The Chicago Ministry of Public Health recommends the city's residents to verify their vaccination records, as the disease continues to be widespread in other parts of the country.
No measles have been reported in Illinois this year. But throughout the country, there have been more than 300 cases so far this year in 15 states, according to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The measles, mumps and measles vaccine (MMR) is the most effective way to protect against hunting the disease. A dose of vaccine is recommended to protect lifelong and 97 % effective against measles, according to the disease control center. One dose is 93 % effective against the disease.
Without protection, measles are very infectious. If one person has measles, up to 90 % of close people will get it if they are not immune, according to the Ministry of Public Health at Chicago.
People can check the vaccination status by contacting health care providers or considering their medical records. Or they can use the Ministry of Public Health Gate on the Internet in Illinois, VAX checking, to check the fortification status.
The first dose of the vaccine, or a similar vaccine – measles, mumps, measles and varicose veins (chickenpox) – is usually given at the age of 12 months to 15 months. The second dose is often given from 4 to 6.
Before the late 1980s, many people got one dose of the childhood vaccine, but the recommendation turned into two doses amid a rise in measles at that time. However, there is no recommendation for most adults who have received only one dose as a child with regard to receiving enhanced now, although some adult groups, such as health care workers and people who travel internationally must have two doses, according to the Disease Control Center.
“One is a very good dose. The supporter is great,” said Dr. Mark Durkin, Professor and Assistant Director of Epidemiology at the College of Public Health at the University of Illinois Chicago.
The Ministry of Public Health in Chicago offers MMR vaccines to anyone, regardless of whether he has health insurance, in fortification clinics throughout the city, a list can be found by going to Getvaxchi.chicago.gov. The clinics take walking, but patients are encouraged to register online or by connecting to the clinic.
Measles symptoms usually begin two to two weeks after a person is exposed to the disease and can include high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, water and rash that explodes three to five days after the symptoms began, according to the Center for Disease Control.
The recommendation issued by the Ministry of Health in Chicago comes amid the outbreak of the disease, including in Texas, which has had 279 cases since late January, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among those cases, 277 people were not imprisoned or their vaccination mode was not known.
In the outbreak of Texas, 36 patients were transferred to the hospital, and one child died. The child who died was not fortified and had no known conditions, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Health in Texas. The child was the first person to die of measles in the United States in a decade.
New Mexico has obtained the highest number of measles so far, with 38, according to the Ministry of Health in New Mexico.
Illinois had the outbreak of measles in March 2024, in which 67 cases were reported, with most of them associated with the shelter of Chicago for immigrants on the lower western side, where nearly 2,500 people lived in nearby places. It has been the largest in Illinois since 1990, according to the Ministry of Government Health.
In Illinois, about 91.6 % of kindergarten received a MMR vaccine during the 2023-2024 academic year. In Illinois, routine childhood vaccines against diseases such as measles, polio cough and dick cough decreased during the Covid-19s. On the national level, the percentage of kindergarten in the United States against measles decreased from 95.2 % during the 2019-2020 academic year to 92.7 % in the academic year 2023-2024, according to the disease control.
Originally published: March 20, 2025 at 3:02 pm CDT
