Bay Area health officials urge measles vaccination as cases rise across the country
The health departments from all Bay Area counties urged people to get vaccinated against measles because of rising cases across the country.
The health officers from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, Sonoma, and the City of Berkeley issued a joint press statement encouraging people to take steps to protect themselves and others. They were also joined by the health officers from Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties.
The statement said the current risk of exposure to measles in the Bay Area is low. However, the U.S. has seen at least 308 measles cases so far this year, the most infections reported nationwide in a single year since a record 2019 wave, according the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC data shows that over 90% of the cases come from a growing outbreak in Texas - where childhood vaccination rates have dropped in recent years - and neighboring states. Earlier this month, the CDC urged Americans in a health advisory to make sure they are up to date on their measles vaccinations ahead of the spring and summer travel season.
The health officials' statement said the vaccine is safe and highly effective, and urged everyone to get the measles vaccination if they are not sure if they got it or if they did not have measles as a child. According to the CDC, the measles vaccine is very good at conferring lifetime immunity, with two doses estimated to be 97% effective.
People born between 1957 and 1969 are likely to have received only one dose and should consider getting a second dose, the health officials said.
Friday's appeal comes weeks after the Trump administration's new Secretary of Health and Human Services, noted vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy Jr., had downplayed the growing outbreak, saying annual outbreaks were "not unusual." Kennedy, who has previously made numerous false and misleading claims about the safety of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, earlier this month said he was "deeply concerned about the recent measles outbreak."
Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause serious illness and death. In the U.S., there have been two deaths in 2025; a child in Texas and an adult in New Mexico were the first measles deaths in the country since 2015. In California, health officials have reported five measles cases as of March 11, all separately reported after international travel and not connected to the Texas outbreak.
"Vaccination against measles is the single most effective way to prevent getting sick with the disease," said Santa Clara County assistant public health officer Dr. Monika Roy in a prepared statement. "If you are not already vaccinated, are unsure of your vaccination status, or will be traveling internationally, talk with your doctor about getting the MMR vaccine."
Measles spreads easily through the air when an infected person breathes, talks, coughs, or sneezes, and the virus can linger in indoor air for several hours. Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, and conjunctivitis (pink eye), followed two to four days later by a rash.
About one in five unvaccinated people in the United States who get measles are hospitalized, and nearly one to three of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications, according to CDC.
