Measles cases rise by 20 percent worldwide: WHO

Measles cases have skyrocketed in recent years after a COVID-19 pandemic-era drop in vaccination against the virus.

Cases of the disease increased by 20 percent across the globe between 2022 and 2023, rising from 8,645,000 to 10,341,000, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The number of countries that experienced “large or disruptive” outbreaks during that time grew from 36 to 57, the report also notes.

Deaths from measles declined by 8 percent in that time, from 116,800 in 2022 to 107,500 in 2023, with mostly children younger than 5 years dying from the disease.

The slight drop in measles deaths is mainly linked to many new cases of the disease occurring in countries where children are less likely to die from the disease due to access to health care and better overall nutrition.

WHO officials urged vaccination as the best way to fight against rising cases of the disease.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, global vaccination rates with the first dose of the measles vaccine dropped to 81 percent — the lowest they have been since 2008, according to a report from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released concurrently.

There was a slight increase in global vaccination against the disease in 2022 — to 83 percent — which has since remained unchanged.

“Measles vaccine has saved more lives than any other vaccine in the past 50 years,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “To save even more lives and stop this deadly virus from harming the most vulnerable, we must invest in immunization for every person, no matter where they live.”

More than 22 million children missed the first dose of the measles vaccine in 2023, according to the WHO. About 83 percent of kids received their first dose of the inoculation last year, while 74 percent received the recommended second dose.

In the United States, the CDC recommends that children get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to protect them from getting the disease.

The vaccine is administered in two shots, the first of which is recommended to be given to children between the ages of 12 months to 15 months and the second between the ages of 4 and 6 years old.

Teens and adults who have not received the immunization should also get the two-shot vaccination, the agency says.

Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are 97 percent effective at protecting a person against contracting measles and 88 percent effective at protecting someone from the mumps, per the CDC.

At least 95 percent of a country’s population needs to have received the two-dose regimen of the measles vaccine to prevent outbreaks of the highly contagious disease, according to the WHO.