A measles outbreak centered in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, has become the largest in the nation in more than two decades, according to state health officials.
The state on Tuesday reported nearly 790 cases tied to the outbreak, which began in October — surpassing an outbreak in west Texas that sickened more than 760 people before it ended last summer.
Most cases have been among unvaccinated children and teenagers. North Carolina health officials have also confirmed cases linked to the outbreak, including three in Mecklenburg County.
South Carolina state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, a Republican who represents Spartanburg County and is running for governor, sent a letter to local school leaders calling the situation a "public health crisis" while emphasizing parental rights and personal choice.
He spoke with WFAE's Nick de la Canal.
Nick de la Canal: You described Spartanburg County as being at an inflection point for public health. Why?
Josh Kimbrell: Well, we’ve not seen an outbreak of measles to this degree in decades. It is at a tipping point. If we get much beyond 700 — and we currently project we will — we’re going to be in a dangerous place where even people who were vaccinated in their younger years could become infected. And that is a very scary place to be.
De la Canal: As I mentioned, you sent a letter to local school leaders this month in which you said that you believe the MMR vaccine is safe and effective, but you also stressed parental rights and personal choice. How do you balance those ideas as this outbreak continues to grow?
Kimbrell: What I have suggested is — nobody’s saying that we’re going to revoke religious liberty exemptions or that we’re going to force people to be vaccinated who just vehemently don’t want to be. But that does mean we may have to have some restrictions on participation, for example, in sports for a bit. We may have to have an e-learning option for a while.
But we're not going to try to deny resources to the best of our ability. But it may mean some of these children have to do e-learning, remote learning. It’s going to have to be a balancing of rights between those who want to exercise this right to not be vaccinated against broader public safety concerns.
De la Canal: I understand that you’ve introduced legislation in the state Senate that you say would strengthen parental rights. What exactly does that legislation say?
Kimbrell: Well, it doesn’t change anything about vaccination policy. That’s largely pertaining to religious instruction, curricula, things of that nature — strengthening the parents’ role. I’ve always been an advocate that moms and dads ought to have a say obviously in medical policy too.
But as I just stressed, there’s still a huge importance in basic public health policy as well. I understand why a mom or dad may have concerns about a vaccine — HPV, for example. That's not necessarily part of a historic regimen. I understand why people have concerns about minors getting vaccinated for COVID. COVID is a different type of vaccine than MMR. I understand why moms and dads may have concerns about their child being instructed in certain things related to sexual education. I understand all that.
But when you're talking about measles and an outbreak of measles that rivals anything that we've seen since the Kennedy administration, this is a real public health concern. I'm a big advocate that historic, tried, true, effective vaccines like MMR are important for public safety efficacy and we need to emphasize those are safe and effective.
De la Canal: There has been vaccine skepticism from the top of the Trump administration, with the president and his advisors casting doubt on some routine vaccinations. Do you think that the president should change his tone amid this outbreak and others?
Kimbrell: I don’t think the president or the secretary have said that people shouldn't take the MMR vaccine. I mean, look, I think people are trying to conflate issues where they don't exist. I think there’s a lot of vaccine skepticism on mRNA — the COVID vaccine. I understand that's a novel vaccine. It's a different type of vaccination.
mRNA is not the same thing as, to put it bluntly, a dead virus vaccination, right? I don't think President Trump nor Secretary Kennedy have said people should not get the MMR vaccine, while there has been skepticism on mRNA vaccines.
I think the similarity of the acronyms have confused some people out there. This is not the administration's fault. This is a local government problem here. We have a few local members — local representatives and stuff that have said that all vaccines are bad. There have been a few local churches, a few local politicians that have pushed this. This is not driven by the Trump administration. This is far more localized.
