Dying of measles in New York in 2026: a warning for an Italia that is ‘lukewarm’ on vaccines
Italian paediatricians sound the alarm following the death of a child in the US, partly due to misinformation: here in Italy, despite the compulsory vaccination policy, coverage with the second dose stands at just 84.45 per cent
Key points
New York has recorded its first measles-related death in thirty years: a child, part of a growing outbreak in the state that has already infected over 170 people. The death occurred in Lewis County, in the state’s interior – an area home to Amish and Mennonite communities, situated north-east of Syracuse – according to a joint statement from the county and state health departments. As of 14 October, Bloomberg news agency reports, the county had confirmed 15 cases of measles, all involving unvaccinated individuals.
There is (unfortunately) enough evidence to support Italian paediatricians in renewing their warning about the lack of measles vaccination coverage in Italia. It should be noted that, in recent days, the Head of State, Sergio Mattarella, had spoken out on the issue of ‘vaccine hesitancy’, describing opposition to vaccines as ‘alarming’.
According to the figures – as highlighted by the Italian Paediatric Society (SIP) – our country, as reported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has the highest number of measles cases in the EU and the European Economic Area: 651 in the last twelve months, accounting for over a quarter of those recorded. A record that the specialists themselves describe as ‘worrying’, accompanied by an incidence rate more than double the European average (11 cases per million inhabitants compared with 5.1), which brings the issue of still-insufficient vaccination coverage back into the spotlight.
Vaccine scepticism and fatal side effects
Over the past two years, measles has been spreading across the United States at an increasing rate, in parallel with falling vaccination rates. This has weakened the herd immunity needed to contain outbreaks and protect those who, for various reasons, cannot be vaccinated. Compounding the problem is the paradox of a Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who – with the full backing of US President Donald Trump – has raised unfounded doubts about the safety of vaccines. This has turned what was once a routine childhood practice into a political issue. ‘This is the first measles-related death in New York in the last 30 years; a tragic reminder of what is at stake when, from Washington, a decade’s worth of progress made to protect American citizens from preventable diseases is deliberately undermined,’ said Governor Kathy Hochul in a post on X.
In neighbouring Pennsylvania, an outbreak affecting over 1,430 people has resulted in five deaths. The nature of these deaths has been called into question by Kennedy, sparking a political row with Governor Josh Shapiro. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have confirmed only three of these deaths – a stance that marks a departure from previous practice – whilst the agency is working with an external group of epidemiologists to define precisely what constitutes a death attributable to measles.
