The Illinois Department of Public Health launched a measles simulator dashboard Wednesday, with data on vaccination rates school-by-school across the state to help officials assess the severity of a potential outbreak should one occur.
The dashboard’s availability comes as measles cases have been reported in over 20 jurisdictions across the U.S., including an outbreak in Texas and New Mexico that has caused three deaths, two of them children.
The state’s “Measles Outbreak Simulator Dashboard” allows the public to quickly find out the measles vaccination rate in any Illinois school, public or private, to help determine a child’s risk should a case be detected at a school.
“The Department is building on the lessons we learned from our successful measles response in 2024 by ensuring that our residents have access to meaningful information to guide their decision-making. Our new dashboard provides the public with the ability to review the measles vaccination rates in their child’s school and its risk for an outbreak. Two doses of measles vaccines are 97% effective in preventing measles. I recommend that our Illinois residents make sure that they and their family members are up to date on the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine and all other age-appropriate immunizations,” Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Sameer Vohra said.
In addition to vaccination rates, the dashboard offers predictions, projections and estimates for the size and spread of a possible measles outbreak in a school using enrollment data and measles vaccination rates from the 2023-24 school year.
The dashboard will be updated with data from the 2024-25 school year once it becomes available, officials said.
According to health officials, most Illinois residents received the measles vaccine during childhood, which provides strong, long-lasting protection. Therefore, the vast majority of Illinoisans are at a very low risk of contracting measles, officials said.
One dose of the measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine is 93% effective against measles, while two doses are 97% effective in protection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials stress for that individuals who are not vaccinated, measles is more contagious than most other infections. Measles is spread easily through the air when someone coughs or sneezes, and can cause serious, long-term complications such as pneumonia and swelling of the brain.
Illinois has not had a confirmed case of measles since an outbreak in Chicago in early 2024, with no active measles outbreak investigations underway in the state.
More information on measles from IDPH can be found here.
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