TX VACCINE RATES - As vaccination rates among students in Texas continue to drop, measles outbreaks could get exponentially worse. That’s according to a new study from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Researchers say measles outbreaks of more than 400 cases could occur in Austin-Round Rock under current vaccination rates. David Sinclair is the lead author of the study, he says if vaccination rates decrease by another 5 percent, the size of a potential measles outbreak could grow by up to 4,000 percent in some Texas communities.
Sinclair explained “if you have large cities like Austin and Dallas, where a lot of people are, and especially in those cities with low vaccination rates, then measles can potentially spread very quickly amongst the people in those cities.”
Texas is currently the largest state by population with a law that allows parents to exempt their children from required vaccines for non-medical reasons. Exemptions have increased 28-fold in the state since 2003.
Click link to see a simulation of measles in any state: MEASLES OUTBREAK SIMULATOR
