As Texas measles outbreak grows, parents are choosing to vaccinate kids

As the measles outbreak in Texas keeps spreading, parents who previously chose not to vaccinate their children are now lining up to get their kids the MMR shots.

As the measles outbreak in Texas keeps spreading, parents who previously chose not to vaccinate their children are now lining up to get their kids the shots needed to protect them from the serious illness.

“People are more and more nervous” as they watch the highly contagious virus spread in their communities, mostly among children, said Katherine Wells, director of public health for Lubbock's health department. “We’ve vaccinated multiple kids that have never been vaccinated before, some from families that didn’t believe in vaccines.”

About half of the approximately 100 doses of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) given at the health department last week were to kids who were unvaccinated, Wells said.

On Tuesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported that 124 cases of measles have been confirmed since late January, mostly in counties in West Texas, near the New Mexico border. So far, 18 patients have been hospitalized, often because they were having trouble breathing.

Of the 124 cases identified, 101 are babies, school-age kids or teenagers.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/texas-measles-outbreak-grows-parents-vaccinate-rcna193637

---