First comes the fever, dry cough and puffy eyes. Then comes the red, blotchy rash.

There’s no treatment to get rid of a measles infection, but symptoms are manageable. According to the CDC, the best way to protect against the infection is a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles.

While measles usually clears up on its own after about two weeks, 1 in 5 will be hospitalized with the infection. Children aged 5 and under are at higher risk.

In Arizona, the number of elementary schools whose kindergarteners are considered immune to a measles outbreak has halved. Only one-third of schools now claim herd immunity — when 95% or more are up to date on their MMR vaccine — compared to two-thirds a decade ago.

Maricopa reflects the statewide trend.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, 98% of kindergarteners at Butterfield Elementary School were vaccinated for MMR. That number fell about 3% year-over-year to 90% in 2023, below the herd immunity threshold, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

One reason for falling vaccination rates is Arizona is among a minority of states that allow exemptions based on personal beliefs. Although parents are required to sign away the risk, many do not, and the state has no power to enforce the law mandating exemption forms.

At Butterfield, Maricopa Unified School District said this reason is not to blame for slipping immunization rates.

“We have zero reports of measles in the district,” MUSD Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services, Tracey Pastor, said today. “Butterfield Kindergarten is 100% compliant, including some students who have followed our exemption process.”

Vaccine rates at MUSD began falling with the start of the pandemic, a time when vaccine paranoia doubled, according to a University of Minnesota study published late last year.

Pastor suggests this could be a reason.

“Immunizations are down across the nation, and some of that can be attributed to misinformation about them,” she said.

Pima Butte Elementary School in 2019 achieved a 100% MMR vaccination rate, which fell to the minimum for herd immunity, 95%, in 2020 and 2021. It fell again each of the following two years to 90% in 2023.

Maricopa Elementary School claimed herd immunity in 2022, but not last year. Saddleback Elementary School achieved herd immunity in 2020 but vaccination rates dipped below 90% in 2022 and have not yet recovered. MMR vaccination rates at Santa Rosa Elementary School also fell after 2020.

“We work closely to educate parents on the importance of immunizations and direct them to multiple places in Maricopa where they can obtain them,” Pastor said.

To get your child the vaccines they need to avoid a measles infection, MUSD points parents to these resources:

• Your primary care provider
• Local pharmacies

• Banner Mobile Health Care for Uninsured Children and Youth
  • Free healthcare for uninsured children and youth, Banner Health parking lot, Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 480-412-6344
•  Pinal County Health Office
  • Free immunizations for all children under 18 years old, 41680 W. Smith-Enke Rd. #110, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., 866-960-0633
    

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