Measles outbreaks have reached nearly 1,000 cases this year, with many reports coming from college campuses, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Ave Maria University in Collier County, Florida experienced an outbreak with over 40 reported cases, marking the largest campus outbreak in recent history, according to the New York Times.
University of Rhode Island Health Services and Health Promotion have discussed the rise in measles cases at a recent leadership team meeting and will be preparing for the possibility of a measles outbreak, especially as spring break approaches, according to Dr. Christopher Nasin, Health Services medical director. Rhode Island has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country.
“If [students are] going south, there’s a higher risk of maybe being in contact with someone who has measles,” Nasin said.
Students should not be alarmed about the possibility of an outbreak on the URI campus, due in part to high vaccination rates that allow community members to achieve herd immunity, according to Nasin and Jennifer Hodshon, director of Health Services.
“If we do get an outbreak on campus, then we have the ability to run a report on those students that did file an exemption, and we can reach out to them,” Hodshon said. “The exemption form indicates that they may be asked to leave campus.”
From the vaccine exemption forms submitted, Health Services can gauge the number of unvaccinated students, according to Nasin.
“Our best guess at the percentage of unvaccinated people is like, 1%,” Nasin said. “To have herd immunity, you want 95% of your population to be immunized.”
Measles outbreaks have been reported at Clemson University and Anderson University in South Carolina, University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Florida, according to the New York Times.
These states traditionally have less strict vaccination requirements, according to Nasin. Rhode Island state law requires the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccination, which protects against measles, unless people have religious or medical exemptions.
Medical exemptions can be granted after a person receives the first round of the MMR vaccination, although the necessity for it is uncommon, according to Nasin.
“It’s a two-shot vaccine, and if you had a really serious reaction to the first shot, then a doctor may tell you not to get the second,” Nasin said.
As for religious exemptions, URI does not investigate students’ beliefs, according to Nasin.
Some of the underlying reasons for exemptions come from concerns about side effects of the MMR vaccination. The vaccine has been proven to be safe despite bias in prior studies.
“The disinformation that [was] put out there was that there was a link between the MMR vaccine and autism,” Nasin said. “That’s been debunked over and over and over again.”
The increase in outbreaks is directly related to declining immunization rates, according to Nasin.
“The reason college campuses are at risk is just because [of] the number of people that exist in college campuses, “ Nasin said. “It’s congregate living.”
While measles most often impacts young children, college-aged students are not immune to more harmful side effects.
“Measles is not benign in your age group, “ Nasin said. “Up to 30% of people can have complications such as pneumonia.”
URI is following advice from the Rhode Island Department of Health, as well as the CDC and the World Health Organization, according to Hodshon.
“We work very closely with the Rhode Island Department of Health and their medical director,” Hodshon said. “We have a group in Rhode Island of college health administrators that get together four times a year, and often invite the Department of Health to educate us on changes in the laws of immunizations.”
Students can receive the MMR vaccine free of charge at Health Services.
