BALTIMORE — The death of a Texas child from measles - the first such incident in the U.S. in a decade - has not affected Maryland at this point.
The state's high vaccination rates are likely to help protect it from a significant measles outbreak, which Maryland last saw in 2019, with five cases.
That's according to William Moss, professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center.
About 95 percent of Maryland schoolchildren have the measles vaccine, which is "perhaps slightly higher than the national average," he said - "but there are likely still communities where that coverage is lower."
Maryland had one measles case in 2023 and one in 2024.
New U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., just testified that a major outbreak is "not unusual."
Moss said:
Every year, we have measles outbreaks, that is true. This one is particularly large and, I would say, particularly geographically diverse.
The Texas death is particularly tragic because it was "completely preventable," Moss said.
Children get the first measles shot when they're 12 to 15 months old, and another dose is recommended before starting school.
But, there are people who aren't eligible for the vaccine - babies younger than 1 year (although the age limit can be lowered to 6 months). People with underlying conditions, such as those undergoing chemotherapy, are also more susceptible.
Maryland has communities where the vaccination rate is lower and there is more vaccine skepticism.
"Those will be the communities where, if the virus gets in there, where we'll see larger outbreaks," Moss said.
