Cases of measles continue to grow in Central Ohio, following a joint warning from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization over a huge disruption in child measles vaccinations. Nearly 40 million children worldwide missed their measles vaccine in 2021, the health agencies said in late November.
In Ohio, cases have doubled in the past couple of weeks and have surpassed 60, though the outbreak has mostly been contained to very young unvaccinated children. According to available data Thursday from the city of Columbus, 60 of the cases were in unvaccinated children and three were in partially vaccinated children who haven’t yet received their second dose.
Fourteen of the cases have been in children under 1 year old, which is too young to be eligible for the vaccine.