Scientific American: U.S. Measles Cases Top 700 This Year as Health Officials Urge Vaccinations

This year has been the worst since 1994 in terms of measles cases; 66 children have been hospitalized and, in total, there have been over 700 cases in 2019. Two counties in New York can account for nearly 70% of the cases, however, there have been cases in 22 states. Of the 700 cases, 71% are known to be unvaccinated, 11% did not have the full two doses required for full vaccination, and the remainder’s status’ are unknown. Alex Azar, the Health and Human Resources Secretary remarked that the department is “very concerned” about the increase in cases this year and believes that these sort of vaccine-preventable diseases should be past not present issues.