The Toll of Measles Outbreaks on Schools

There is a post circulating on Facebook from a young mother asking for advice on how to protect her unvaccinated 3-year-old from measles. The answer, of course, is obvious: The best way to protect your child from measles is to vaccinate him against measles.

That answer should be just as obvious to leaders in the 17 states that still allow parents to exempt their children from immunizations for philosophical or personal reasons. Nearly two decades after scientists declared the United States rid of measles, at least 206 people in 11 states—from New York City to Washington state—recently have contracted the disease. Most of them are unvaccinated children.