Inside Texas’s growing measles outbreak

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. It was eliminated in the United States 25 years ago because of an effective vaccine. While cases periodically pop up, a growing wave of vaccine skepticism is giving this old virus new traction.

Health reporter Fenit Nirappil and “Post Reports” producer Elana Gordon recently traveled to the heart of this growing outbreak, which officials say may take months to get under control.

Today, Martine Powers speaks with Fenit about the state of the Texas outbreak; we hear from a mom whose unvaccinated child recently got measles and from a pediatrician who has cared for hospitalized patients.

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon, who also contributed to this report. It was edited by Peter Bresnan with help from Reena Flores and Maggie Penman, and mixed by Sam Bair. Thank you to Lenny Bernstein.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	A few weeks ago, Kaylee Brantner's seven-year-old son got a fever.
0:06.0	Days later, he developed a rash.
0:09.0	He got the measles.
0:11.0	Kaylee pulls at her phone and scrolls through some photos.
0:15.0	It just spread, and he just had all over from his head to his toes.
0:20.0	It's clearly like a reddish rash that spreads across his cheeks and over his nose.
0:26.1	This is health reporter Fennett Nierapil.
0:28.4	He recently met Kaylee in Seminole, Texas.
0:31.4	It's an area at the heart of a growing measles outbreak,
0:35.3	one that is catching nationwide attention.
0:38.3	We're in an environment where people are becoming more skeptical of vaccines.
0:42.3	We're seeing declines in vaccination rates as people like Kaylee make a choice not to get their children vaccinated for measles.
0:50.8	From her perspective, she fears the vaccines.
0:59.7	She believes that the risks of getting the shots are greater than the risks of getting the disease.
1:12.1	We don't not care about the community. We just, we're not going to harm our children or the potential to harm our children so that we can save yours.
1:18.8	Kaylee kept her son home from school, isolated her family, and ordered her groceries delivered.
1:22.2	After a few days, her son started to feel better.
1:27.7	How did the reality of measles compared to your expectations of what measles was like?
1:35.7	Like, I expected it to be horrible and scary, you know, just like they built up with COVID.
1:43.2	It was a really smooth ride, but I think that comes from, I mean, we support our bodies with what they need.
1:46.1	People are living through a measles outbreak.
1:49.1	They're seeing their neighbors and loved ones get measles.
	...

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