As a measles outbreak erupts in Texas and New Mexico, vaccination rates for the highly contagious disease have struggled to recover in California since they dipped to worrisome levels during the pandemic.(Credit: Dreamstime/TNS/Media News Group)
County health director says county vaccine rates are high
Montgomery County health officials are continuing contact tracing efforts after an unvaccinated Montgomery County baby contracted a case of measles over the weekend.
A county spokesperson issued a statement on Sunday about the local case as instances of measles rise in other parts of the nation, with 164 cases and one death reported so far in 2025, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Montgomery County Medical Director Dr. Richard Lorraine said in an interview Monday the county has been monitoring the situation, but he noted a “significant difference” between the isolated local case and those in Texas and New Mexico.
“Down in the Southwest, you have a community, basically, of unvaccinated children, so it’s spreading fairly significantly,” Lorraine said. “Here we have — what I refer to as a ‘one off’ — where we had a very young child who was too young to be immunized, traveling with parents to an area of the world where measles happened to be endemic, and … unfortunately contracted the disorder.”
While details surrounding the incident have not yet been revealed, Lorraine confirmed the child was “a little less” than 1-year-old. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is typically administered in two doses, according to the CDC, one between the ages of 12-to-15 months, and another between 4 and 6 years old.
The World Health Organization categorizes measles as a “highly contagious, serious viral disease” that “is normally passed through direct contact and the air” and can “stay on surfaces for up to two hours,” according to a Montgomery County spokesperson. Initial symptoms, seven-to-14 days after infection, include a high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes, according to the CDC.
Two to three days after symptoms show, tiny white bumps may appear inside the mouth. Additionally, a rash is also a telltale sign, which begins three to five days after symptoms show on the person’s face, and spreads to the neck, trunk, arms, legs, and feet.
The Montgomery County incidence marks the first measles case in Pennsylvania this year. An unvaccinated child in Montgomery County contracted measles back in July 2023.
Three places were identified this weekend by county officials as sites the child visited during the “infectious period,” which occurred in late February. Those places included a China Airlines airport shuttle from 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 25 to 3:15 a.m. on Feb. 26, bus departing John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 4 in New York to Pho Ha Saigon in North Philadelphia. Also on Feb. 26, the child was accounted for between 11:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. at True North Pediatrics Associates of Plymouth in Plymouth Meeting and from 12:52-3:02 p.m. at CHOP King of Prussia Campus Emergency Department in King of Prussia.
Lorraine said contact tracing with local health care facilities in the Philadelphia area has been relatively easy, but there have been some “logistical problems” with respect to the shuttle operations. He also expressed some concern about the “potential exposure on the flight home and in the airport in New York,” but said “it’s out of our jurisdiction,” and any findings would be turn[ed] over to counterparts in New York.
County officials in a Sunday statement noted that “people who were at any of these locations during the identified time periods may have been exposed.” Contact tracing and notification efforts of the “potential exposure to measles … and assessed for vaccination status and risk for infection” remain underway.
Lorraine noted there is a “very high rate of immunization” in Montgomery County. While acknowledging some instances of “vaccine fatigue” since the COVID-19 pandemic, he referenced school entry data where about 95 percent were vaccinated by kindergarten age and 98 percent “by the time they get to high school.” CDC data showed 90.8 percent of children had been vaccinated with one or more doses by 24 months against the percent of children vaccinated by age 24 months against measles, mumps, rubella, and 91.9 percent of teens ages 13-to-17 years old had received two or more doses of the vaccine.
“We actually do very well in Montgomery County,” Lorraine said.
Anyone who’s had measles previously, two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or was born before 1957 is considered immune, according to health officials, who stressed immunocompromised groups could be considered vulnerable.
“If folks might have had direct exposure, if they are fully vaccinated, they really don’t have a whole lot to be concerned about,” Lorraine said. “We are more concerned about potential exposure for people who are incompletely or unvaccinated, for those who might have immune deficiencies, and then, just because they’re potentially subject to more complications, folks who might be elderly, significantly ill, immunocompromised, pregnant, those would be the ones that we would have more concern about.”
“The vaccine is highly, highly effective and very, very safe,” Lorraine said, adding “it’s perfectly understandable for parents to have concerns about vaccines and what any secondary effects there may be. So the thing I always, always urge folks [to do] is to consult with their trusted health care provider.”
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