With measles cases continuing to soar out of control, it is pretty obvious that the measles outbreaks in the United States have become a disaster.
Not to mention the five measles deaths this year.
Why Has Only One State Recognized That Measles Is a Disaster Emergency?
It makes you wonder, or at least it should make you wonder, why only one state has declared a disaster emergency due to their measles outbreaks?
Which state?
New York, which now has 101 reported cases, not including the seven cases in New York City.
New York, even though many other states have even more measles cases, namely Arizona (123), Florida (162), Ohio (206), Pennsylvania (1,004), South Carolina (673), Texas (192), Utah (572), Virginia (179), and Wisconsin (243).
In fact, we have not seen a governor declare a state of emergency because of measles since 2019. Back then, the governor of Washington declared a state of emergency because of a measles outbreak centered in Clark County.
There was another state of emergency in 2019. County Executive Ed Day declared a state of emergency in Rockland County, New York, but that didn’t cover the whole state.
So, what are the benefits of declaring a state of emergency?
No, it’s not just to scare folks into getting vaccinated!
In this case, declaring a state of emergency helps to “increase the number of health professionals who can vaccinate and test” for measles.
And it helps the state deploy vaccination and testing resources more rapidly as outbreaks appear in additional communities.
Specifically, the disaster declaration:
Allows paramedics and advanced EMS providers to give MMR vaccines.
Allows midwives to give MMR vaccines much more broadly.
Allows pharmacists to vaccinate children as young as two years against measles.
Allows doctors and nurse practitioners to issue standing orders for these additional vaccinators.
Makes MMR reporting to the immunization registry mandatory for essentially everyone vaccinated during the emergency. And that just means that the consent requirement for reporting has been suspended, which of course does not mean that anyone is being forced to get vaccinated. It simply means that if they get an MMR vaccine, then it has to be reported to the state registry!
Allows registered nurses to order measles testing and allows doctors and NPs to issue standing orders for nurses to collect specimens.
Allows the state to bypass some normal contracting and procurement procedures to help the measles response move quicker.
Invokes New York's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and authorizes state agencies to assist local governments.
So all in all, the disaster declaration should help to get their measles outbreak under quick control.
It is likely something other states should be doing.