Pennsylvania’s largest Amish community has become ground zero for the worst wave of measles the country has seen in decades — and it’s quietly changing its mind about vaccines. The AP reports that Lancaster County accounts for more than a third of the state’s more than 1,350 measles cases this year, with at least three associated deaths. Although conservative Amish and Mennonites often live apart from traditional civic life, they shop, work, and go to school alongside their “English” neighbors, making it impossible to contain the highly contagious virus within their circles alone.
Vaccination has long been uneven among “simple” communities, more by tradition than by theology: “We’ve never done it before, and we’ve done well with it,” as one Mennonite leader put it. But the outbreak is prompting a rethink: Local clinics have administered hundreds of MMR vaccines, some Amish farmers are rolling up their sleeves to get vaccinated, and non-Amish families are vaccinating infants earlier than usual. Public health experts warn that the real problem is larger: Childhood vaccination rates have plummeted in central Pennsylvania. The full AP piece has more here; Takeaways from the report are here.
Gn Health
