The county at the center has one of state’s highest vaccine exemption rates Many of those infected in Gaines County were young and unvaccinated children.
“The best way to prevent getting sick is to be immunized with two doses of a vaccine against measles, which is primarily administered as the combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine,” Texas health authorities said in a statement.
In Gaines, nearly 14 percent of children from kindergarten through 12th grade had an exemption during the previous school year.
Some cases appear to be linked to private religious schools in the district, according to South Plains Public Health District Director Zach Holbrooks.
In Gaines County, which has a population of about 22,000, 15 cases of the airborne infectious disease have been reported since late January.
