SPRINGFIELD, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A small outbreak of measles in Southern Illinois is over, but the Pritzker administration is pinning the nationwide outbreak on President Trump’s administration.
It’s been more than 42 days since measles cases were last reported in several southern Illinois counties, equaling two incubation periods — meaning, the outbreak is over. A total of eight cases were reported in a small area of Southern Illinois.
And while measles cases are closing, Ryan Croke, First Assistant Deputy Governor, Health and Human Services, says there didn’t have to be even one case of something once thought to be eradicated.
“Public figures, like (Health and Human Services Secretary) Robert F. Kennedy, Junior, and President Trump — both of whom have flirted with anti-vaccine rhetoric, are undermining decades of public health progress in our country,” said Croke, who calls the misinformation Trump and Kennedy allegedly have been spreading “dangerous.” Croke spoke at a news conference Friday at the Sangamon County Health Department.
But, Croke and other state officials say there have been sharp increases in vaccinations against measles since the outbreak first began.
“Already in March, we began to see a rise in the number of Illinois residents getting the measles vaccine, with our state immunization registry showing over 9,000 more individuals having received a measles vaccine in March, as compared to February,” said Dr. Jennifer Seo, Illinois Department of Public Health Pediatric Medicine Medical Advisor.
That, Seo says, was before the outbreak was identified in April — cases, she says, that were tied to one another.
“We often speak in the public health community that vaccines are one of the greatest public health achievements,” said Dr. Sameer Vohra, IDPH Director. “We don’t worry about things with scary names like pertussis, or things that really have caused huge challenges.”
Vohra says that can be credited to effective messaging, and working with medical partners.