Northeast Ohio medical professionals are urging parents to have their children get their MMR — or measles, mumps and rubella — vaccines, and unvaccinated adults to get vaccinated against the disease as well. This comes as the first case of the disease in 2025 was reported in an unvaccinated adult March 19 in Ashtabula County.
Children are recommended to get vaccinated in two doses, the first at between a year and 15 months old and the second at between 4 and 6 years old, said Dr. Evelyn Pangonis, medical director for infection control at Akron Children's Hospital.
Doing so is a safe and effective way for people to avoid a highly contagious and dangerous disease, she added.
“I think getting the measles vaccine is a very easy way to prevent an infection that could cause them to die," Pangonis said.
Measles can cause serious health complications, especially in children younger than 5 years old, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Complications include pneumonia (infection of the lungs), encephalitis (an acute inflammation of the brain) and even death. Measles may cause pregnant women to give birth prematurely, or have a low-birth weight baby.
The shots are quick and provide life-long effectiveness with only minor, temporary side effects, such as a sore arm, redness and some swelling, Pangonis said.
"The immunity from the MMR vaccines is lifelong and about 3% of patients may either have their immunity decrease over time or may not have a good response but even those patients don't get very sick when they get the measles," she said.
Childhood vaccination rates are declining, according to the Ohio Department of Health. The state found that, between the 2023-2024 academic year and the 2024-2025 one, the percentage of students entering school with all their recommended shots fell from 86.2% to 85.4%. Just prior to the COVID pandemic, that figure hovered at nearly 90%.
Meanwhile, unvaccinated adults are being urged to get vaccinated to prevent individual cases of measles from escalating into outbreaks. Measles is extremely contagious and can spread to others through coughing and sneezing. If people are not protected against the disease, nine out of 10 people who are exposed will become ill.
“There was not any measles back in 2000, and so we have done this before," said Ashtabula County Health Commissioner Jay Becker. "We have the answer, and it's just get vaccinated. Let's use it and protect our families.”
Nearly 92% of the state’s adults are vaccinated against measles.
Individuals born before 1957 likely contracted measles in their lives and are now immune, Becker said. Those born between 1957 and 1968 were vaccinated using a dead measles virus, which is not as effective, and may need a booster. Individuals born after 1968 were vaccinated as children using live measles viruses and should be protected throughout their lives, Becker said.
The county is working to get the message out to residents about the importance of the vaccine, on its health department website, on social media and elsewhere, he said. The department is also in communication with neighboring counties and the Ohio Department of Health about the positive case and efforts to limit any spread.
The Ashtabula County Health Department is vaccinating adults, including setting up additional clinics to do so, he said. This outreach includes clinics in Amish communities, which have historically had lower vaccination rates than the rest of the population, Becker said.
Preventing large groups of unimmunized populations is essential to prevent measles outbreaks and death, said Dr. Steven Gordon, chairman of Cleveland Clinic's department of infectious diseases, who added that vaccine preventable illnesses disproportionately affect the young and the immunosuppressed.
"I think there's been at least one or two deaths reported in this current outbreak," Gordon said. "And we would say that's one or two deaths that could have been prevented, right? And that's a tragedy."
