The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) declared a recent measles outbreak in the city over on Thursday.
CDPH said 42 days have passed — two full incubation periods for measles — without any new cases confirmed.
On March 7, 2024, Chicago health officials confirmed the city's first case of measles in five years. Additional cases have been confirmed among children and adults at a shelter for new arrivals in Pilsen, on the city's lower west side.
Over the course of the outbreak, 64 people in Chicago tested positive for measles, including 57 people associated with Chicago shelters.
CDPH said it collaborated with federal, state, and local health care and community partners and “mobilized a rapid response to symptomatic screenings of shelter residents, detailed contact tracing, and isolation of persons with suspected or confirmed measles,” according to its announcement.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, more than 30,000 doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine have been administered to Chicago residents, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.
MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, or rubella at Logan Square Health Center in Chicago in 2019.
Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS/Getty Images
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends two doses of the MMR vaccine, with the first dose given between ages 12 to 15 months and the second dose between ages 4 and 6 years. Adults are eligible to receive one dose of the vaccine. Vaccine if they are not immune.
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One dose of measles vaccine is 93% effective in preventing infection if you are exposed to the virus. Two doses are 97% effective, according to the CDC.
“The MMR vaccine is safe and is the most effective way to protect yourself and others from future measles outbreaks, especially as tourism and travel increase during the summer months,” CDPH Commissioner Dr. Olusembo Ege said in a statement. “Our goal is to eliminate measles in Chicago and everywhere, and with proper vaccination coverage, we know that zero is possible.”
Measles was considered eliminated in 2000 because most Americans were vaccinated against the disease or had some level of immunity. However, over the past several years, vaccination rates have declined and pockets of unvaccinated and unvaccinated communities have led to sporadic outbreaks across the United States.
