By Shanty Tejeda, age 11
In the United States, the rates of measles have been rising, while the national vaccination rate against measles is declining, according to Harvard Health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 2,605 confirmed cases across over 44 states in 2025. Most of the cases have been children.
“This is the largest number of cases in a year since 2000, when the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S.,” wrote Dr. Robert H. Shmerling in Harvard Health. In West Texas, the epicenter of recent measles outbreaks, vaccination rates against measles have dropped to 82%.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, common symptoms of measles are rash, muscle pain, fever, red eyes, runny nose, sore throat, and cough. Complications include pneumonia, hearing loss, and even death in some cases, reports Harvard Health. Measles vaccinations are highly effective in preventing the spread of measles.
What’s peculiar is that even though science has proven vaccines are important to prevent illnesses like measles and yellow fever, the U.S government is stripping vaccine development.
This is due to the MAHA movement, which stands for “Make America Healthy Again,” under the administration of President Donald Trump. This movement is led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other vaccine critics, who claim vaccines are harmful.
Secretary Kennedy Jr. is defunding vaccine development and research, meaning he is withdrawing money used to continue the research and development of new vaccines. Also, instead of relying on the experts that help with vaccine guidance, he is listening to vaccine critics, has made it harder to get COVID-19 vaccines, and is trying to limit the vaccines that have been long recommended to children.
Most children are required to get vaccines to go to school, which is called a “vaccine mandate.” This is important to prevent the spread of illness in schools, where risk is high, considering children interact with each other in small spaces. But Florida recently became the first state to end vaccine mandates.
Some critics say vaccines cause autism. In an interview with Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Arturo Casadevall, an infectious disease physician, said that this is misinformation—vaccines save lives. They do not cause autism.
In January 2026, Kennedy also removed six vaccines from the regular children’s vaccine recommendations, including meningitis, which can be fatal. The vaccine can help cases of the disease from becoming serious, according to many clinical trials.
“MAHA” is not an ideal name for the policies that are being put in place. The movement says “Make America Healthy Again,” yet with all the policies against vaccines, it is making America less healthy.
HOW VACCINES WORK
Now more than ever, people need to know that vaccines are important and helping them, rather than harming them like the Trump administration is claiming. According to the World Health Organization, vaccines have saved more than 154 million lives over the last 50 years.
“Vaccines teach the body to protect itself against specific germs without taking the risk of an infection,” said Dr. Casadevall on the Johns Hopkins Public Health On Call podcast.
The mRNA vaccine, which is used to prevent serious cases of COVID-19, instructs the body to create a protein of the virus, and teaches the immune system about it so that the immune system knows how to fight it.
THE HISTORY OF VACCINES
It is worth noting that vaccines are not new. The practice of immunizing people against the spread of diseases dates back to 1000 AD in China, according to the College Physicians of Philadelphia. The terms used to describe vaccination before modern vaccines were invented were “inoculation” and “variolation.” According to oral histories, a Taoist or Buddhist monk, or a nun, started the practice of inoculation. The first written account about inoculation was in 1549.
Inoculation started off in China, where it then spread to the Ottoman Empire in Turkey. Later it spread to Europe and northern Africa, then to the United States, then to Great Britain and Scotland.
A common inoculation technique involved inserting disease materials into the skin with a sharp object. According to the National Library of Medicine, in Asia, “Dried smallpox scabs were blown into the nose of an individual who then contracted a mild form of the disease. Upon recovery, the individual was immune to smallpox.”
In the late 1700s, Edward Jenner, a British doctor, realized that people who were infected with cowpox had immunity to smallpox, so he said that if he could inoculate people with cowpox, a much milder disease, they would be immune to smallpox. This was the first modern vaccine.
EDUCATION AND STAYING INFORMED
By supporting vaccines, you can help prevent the spread of measles and other contagious diseases in your community. You could also engage in respectful conversations with people who are against vaccines and teach them how important they are, using reliable sources. The more people who get vaccinated against a disease, the less likely outbreaks will be, and everyone will be safer.
