Virginia Navigates Measles Outbreak

The school year starts this month in almost every district in Virginia, a change from the state’s long-time policy of beginning the year in early September. Administrators in Central Virginia are beginning the semester with a health concern: a measles outbreak in the region.

The Virginia Department of Health reported 177 cases of measles statewide as of Aug. 13. Most of those cases, 154, were in three adjoining counties: Buckingham (126), Cumberland (18), and Prince Edward (10). Some 5% of patients who contracted the virus were hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported from the disease.

While there haven’t been any new measles cases in several weeks, the beginning of the school year means students will be in close contact once again, and measles is easily spread. Virginia requires students to have two doses of the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine before they may attend classes, but there are some exceptions. “We definitely want to be more vigilant about checking immunizations at the beginning of the school year,” Felicia Preston of Martinsville Public Schools told the Virginia Cardinal.

So far this year, seven of the measles cases reported in Virginia were tied to international travel, while 170 cases were apparently contracted domestically. Last year state officials reported a total of five cases, and most were linked to travel overseas. There was one case reported in Virginia each year in 2024 and 2023.

Measles can usually be prevented with a vaccination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a 95% vaccination rate can provide what is known as “herd immunity,” which makes it difficult for the virus to spread.

At the end of the 2024 school year, 94.2% of Virginia’s kindergartners had received at least one dose of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The MMR vaccination rate is somewhat lower for 2-year-olds, with 86% of Virginians having had at least one dose of the MMR vaccine. In the three counties involved in the current outbreak, Buckingham’s vaccination rate is 74.1%, Cumberland’s is 64.6%, and Prince Edward’s is 43.9%.

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Earlier this week, President Donald Trump called for the three vaccines to be broken into three separate shots. “We want it in three separate vaccinations, given at separate times. Together, there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal and separately, it looks like they are not at all lethal but just very effective,” he said during the signing of an executive order in the Oval Office. “So the MMR, we want to have separate visits, separate times. The vaccine being broken into three separate single doses and vaccines being administered in separate visits, for example, at one year, you should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day.”

There are no manufacturers currently licensed in the United States to produce individual measles, mumps, or rubella shots.

The state’s Department of Health pushed back against Trump’s proposal. “Virginia’s families should be able to trust that our vaccine recommendations are grounded in the best available science and focused on protecting the health and well-being of their children,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Cameron Webb said. “The evidence supporting the [American Academy of Pediatrics] immunization schedule is extensive, and we remain confident that following it is one of the best ways to protect children from serious, preventable diseases.”

The department will maintain its schedule but will also convene a new Workgroup on Childhood Immunization Schedules and Public Health Emergencies later this month. It will include doctors and public health experts and will be charged with reviewing Virginia’s policies on childhood vaccination schedules.