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“… As of Friday afternoon, the outbreak has jumped to 14 confirmed cases and six probable cases among people who are symptomatic and had close contact with infected individuals, Zach Holbrooks, executive director of the South Plains Public Health District, told CNN.
Investigations are ongoing, as cases have been identified in parts of the region that are outside the Gaines County lines where the first cases were reported.
… All the cases are believed to be among people who are not vaccinated against measles, Holbrooks said, and most of them are in children.
A record share of US kindergartners had an exemption for required vaccinations last school year, leaving more than 125,000 new schoolchildren without coverage for at least one state-mandated vaccine, according to data published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October.
… MMR coverage is particularly low in Gaines County, where nearly 1 in 5 incoming kindergartners in the 2023-24 school year did not get the vaccine. The 18% vaccine exemption rate for the county is one of the highest in the state, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
At the state level, vaccine exemptions were highest in Idaho, where more than 14% of incoming kindergartners did not have their required shots, according to CDC data from last school year. Texas overall was slightly above the national average, with about 4% exemptions. …”
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