Measles Is Coming Back. These Moms Want to Vaccinate Their Kids Early
As a mother of a 10-month-old infant, I worry a lot — about her sleep schedule, whether she’s eating enough, if she’s hitting her developmental milestones. What I didn’t expect to have to worry about as a parent in 2025 was measles, a preventable disease which was considered eliminated in the United States in 2000 because of a highly effective vaccine. But now, it’s surging through several states as the anti-vaccine movement gains both steam and representatives in high places with the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary.
In February, a six-year-old child died of measles in Texas, marking the country’s first death from the disease in a decade. The death followed an outbreak of the highly contagious disease in West Texas; a similar outbreak has been recorded in New Mexico and cases have surfaced in other states including California, New York, and Oklahoma. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a statement to healthcare professionals, urging them to ensure their patients are up-to-date on their vaccinations against measles. The CDC estimates that one in four cases of measles in the U.S. result in hospitalization, and one in 1,000 result in death. The disease is airborne, with infectious particles lasting in the air for up to two hours. There is no cure for measles; the vaccine is the only line of defense.
The first dose of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is typically given when an infant turns one year old — but in the face of the outbreaks, some parents of infants are pushing their doctors to vaccinate early. At a recent doctor’s appointment, I asked my daughter’s pediatrician if he would consider it for her. No, he told me – unless there was a genuine outbreak in our city or I was planning on undertaking international travel with my daughter, he would plan on waiting until her first birthday to give her the first dose.
Alexis, 27, who has a 10-month-old son and lives in Texas with her family, didn’t even have to ask her son’s pediatrician for an early vaccination; the doctor offered to give her son the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine at the infant’s scheduled nine-month visit. “It was a no-brainer for me,” she tells Rolling Stone. “I’m not a medical professional so I made sure to choose a medical professional that I trust with my kids’ lives. Literally.” The fact that Alexis lives in Texas, where an outbreak is raging, made her even more eager to offer her son whatever protection she can.
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Amanda, a 34-year-old mother of two, lives in Pennsylvania in a community which is home to many Mennonites, a Christian sect which tends to eschew vaccination. (The child who died of measles in Texas was from a Mennonite family; her father, though devastated by the loss, said his daughter’s death was “God’s will.”) Amanda, who has a five-month-old son, asked her family’s pediatrician whether he would give the MMR vaccine early but was told that unless there’s an outbreak in their community or they were planning on traveling internationally, they wouldn’t. “I didn’t feel like I was being taken very seriously,” Amanda says. She’s planning to make another appointment to push for the vaccine, especially as the family has plans to travel to Florida, where there are active measles cases. If her kids’ pediatrician still refuses, Amanda is planning on leaving the practice and finding a doctor who will. “It’s really like, I have no way of protecting [my daughter],” she says. “There’s nothing else I can do, except get a vaccine.”
Pediatricians typically administer the first dose of the MMR vaccine at 12 months because research has shown that’s the age when the immune response is best, says Dr. Devika Bhushan, a pediatrician and former acting Surgeon General of California. Though the measles shot is considered safe for infants as young as six months, it’s most effective at 12 and will only confer partial immunity when given early, which means your doctor might recommend waiting. “If your pediatrician is not comfortable giving it and you feel strongly that you would like for your child to have this vaccine [early], you can always go to a local health department to try to get the vaccine,” Dr. Bhushansays.
The MMR vaccine is a series of two shots; while the first dose is generally given at a year, the second is given between the ages of four and six. Katy, a 32-year-old mother of a 15-month-old in Texas, requested that her daughter be given the second dose early because of the outbreak in Texas and upcoming travel plans; her pediatrician obliged, administering the second dose years early. The second dose must be given at least four weeks after the first, notes Dr. Bhushan.
After her daughter received the second dose, Katy felt reassured by her heightened immunity. “We’re giving her all the tools we can,” she says. “We’re cautious, but still living our lives. It’s not something I ever thought I would have to worry about.”
The first measles death in a decade was a shocking development. As the news spread, my sister called me. In our family lore, I knew my mother had a baby brother who died in infancy. What I didn’t know until this week was that he had died of measles. My uncle was born and died in 1963 — the year the MMR vaccine was licensed for use in the United States. In the former Yugoslavia, where my family lived, the vaccine wasn’t yet available.
My grandmother deeply mourned the loss of her infant son until her own death in 2020. I think of them both now, as I wait for the day my daughter turns one. There will be presents and balloons and cake and — blissfully, finally — the first dose of the MMR vaccine.