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US measles cases just climbed to over 1,500, with surges in three states
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
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I'm saying that measles outbreaks are nothing new.
And I'm pointing out the 97% effectiveness of the vaccine, because that's hideously close to the 95% immunity level needed for herd immunity. And the 95% matters because even if there were no antivaxxers in the country, we still wouldn't have herd immunity, because:
There is a significant percentage of people who believe they were vaccinated, but who are actually undervaxxed: anyone in the '57-'67 cohort who didn't get a booster as an adult is undervaxxed, and people in the '67-89 cohort who didn't get a booster are very likely undervaxxed. And once you combine the people who are undervaxxed with the people for whom the vaccine didn't work, we're past the 95% herd immunity threshold.
Prior outbreaks were held in check by a lot of work and outreach by public health workers, and those workers have been defunded.
Are antivaxxers contributing to the current outbreak? Absolutely! But that's not the only factor involved.