Amid West Texas measles outbreak, Rice to host vaccination clinic
A total of 223 measles cases have been identified in the state. An additional four cases have been reported in east Texas counties — including two in Harris — that are not connected with the state’s outbreak.
Rice will hold a clinic to give the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination March 20 in the Cambridge Office Building.
The decision comes after over 233 cases, 29 hospitalizations and two deaths were reported by the Texas Department of State Health Services, as of March 11. The cases are mostly confined to rural West Texas and New Mexico, with the majority affecting unvaccinated individuals.
In late January, two cases of measles were confirmed in Houston, the city’s first since 2023. Both were linked to international travel.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, measles is a highly contagious airborne virus that spreads when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. Unvaccinated people and young children are at the highest risk of contracting and dying from the virus.
The disease was considered eradicated in the United States in 2000, but is common in other parts of the world.
The vaccination clinic will be held over spring break, when many students will be away from campus. Chris Stipes, a university spokesperson, said that the clinic is largely targeted towards faculty and staff who have not received the most effective two-dose MMR vaccine.
One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective at preventing the virus and two doses are 97% effective, according to the CDC. The two-dose vaccine began to be recommended in 1989.
“Adults born between 1957 and 1989 — many of whom are faculty and staff — may have only received a single dose of the vaccine, leaving them more vulnerable to measles,” Stipes wrote in an email to the Thresher.
The MMR vaccination rate is 99.99% for full-time, on-campus students, according to Jessica McKelvey, the director of Student Health Services. The MMR vaccine is required for full-time, on-campus students, unless they submit a waiver through the state of Texas.
Stipes said the Rice Emergency Management is continuing to monitor the measles outbreak in coordination with state and federal agencies.
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