By Kellie Houx
KHoux@cherryroad.com
CLAY COUNTY — As of Tuesday, March 25, the Clay County Public Health Center reported there have been no confirmed cases of measles in the county, unlike elsewhere in the nation.
According to the Center for Disease Control, there have been 378 confirmed cases as of March 20. The cases are currently in Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, and Washington.
Texas and New Mexico are reporting the highest numbers of outbreaks.
Someone infected with measles usually has symptoms such as a rash, high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. It can cause serious health complications, like pneumonia and encephalitis (brain infection), especially in young children.
Measles is an airborne and extremely contagious as well as infectious illness that spreads easily when someone coughs or sneezes. The germs can linger for up to two hours after an infected person leaves the area, according to the CDC.
The health center shared that in Clay County, three cases were reported in 2018 and two in 2024.
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which was created in 1971, is given in two doses to children around 12-15 months of age. A second dose is given at around 4-6 years of age.
Deputy Director Ashley Wegner said anecdotally, while the center experiences an increase in staff calls requiring a call back from a nurse, vaccination rates remain flat.
“The number of calls are not quantifiable, but we estimate between 10-20% uptick as it is noticeable since staff must call back,” she explained. “However, there is currently no uptick in vaccinations given as folks inquiring do not meet standing order criteria to obtain boosters or additional doses at this time. As a health department, we operate under standing orders, so we are unable to make clinical decisions outside of this purview.”
Private providers do have more flexibility, and the health center is aware that recommendations are occurring in community primary care visits to get children younger than 5 that second MMR vaccine sooner than kindergarten shot time, which is entirely within a provider’s scope of clinical decision making in anticipation of more measles cases occurring in the area, she explained.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services shared the Missouri School Immunization Survey Statistics dashboard. During 2023-2024, the state recorded 90.9% of public school students were vaccinated for MMR while private school students were at 85.4%.
