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As of Aug. 27, there have been 36 confirmed cases of measles reported in Minnesota in 2024. Thirty of these cases have occurred since July and are associated with community spread. Thirty-five of 36 cases have been in unvaccinated children.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) released a Health Advisory: Metro Measles Outbreak and Vaccine Recommendations urging Twin Cities health care providers that care for patients in communities with high numbers of unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children living in the metropolitan area to consider accelerating the 2-dose MMR series for children 12 months and older.
- Administer the first dose of MMR on (or as soon as possible after) the first birthday, followed by a second dose 28 days later.
- Administer the second MMR dose now if it has been at least 28 days since the first MMR dose and no other live virus injectable vaccines (i.e., varicella vaccine) have been administered in the past 28 days.
Families who have refused MMR vaccine in the past may be looking for more information. Use this opportunity and information for outreach:
- Measles is a serious disease and is extremely contagious.
- Approximately 58% of children under 5-years-old who contract measles will require hospitalization.
- The MMR vaccine is safe and very effective (97%).
- 79% of all Minnesota 2-year-olds and only 24% of Somali Minnesotan children have received at least one dose of MMR by age 2.
- For additional resources to help you with your response visit:
MDH would like to thank the over 750 health care sites in the state enrolled in the Minnesota Vaccines for Children (MnVFC) program. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently referred to the VFC program as “one of the nation’s most important contributions to health equity.”
MnVFC sites serve approximately half of the children in Minnesota by ensuring cost is not a barrier to vaccines for children who are uninsured, enrolled in a Minnesota health care program like Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare, or children who are American Indian or Alaska Natives. Nationally, the VFC program has prevented more than 1.1 million deaths thanks to your efforts.
Help us celebrate and promote the MnVFC program by sharing our short superhero video available in multiple languages to your social media accounts.
We recently updated the “Are Your Kids Ready? (AYKR)” resource based on feedback we received to streamline and simplify the information for parents. This resource is used to communicate the Minnesota school and child care immunization requirements to parents. As part of this update, we combined the immunization exemption form and the AYKR resource into a single two-sided document. There have not been any changes to the immunization requirements for schools and child cares. Only the formatting of the documents has changed.
If you linked to the previous version of the AYKR resources or the immunization exemption form on your webpage, please update your pages using the new the links found at Vaccines for Infants, Children, and Adolescents.
If you have questions about the updates, contact us at health.aisr@state.mn.us.
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