Iowa — The number of Iowa kindergartners who have received the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine has dropped in recent years.
According to the latest data from the health policy organization KFF — 93 percent of Iowa kindergarteners got the MMR shot during the 2019-2020 school year — and that dropped to 89 percent for the Iowa children who entered kindergarten in the fall of 2022. Dr. Nathan Boonstra, a pediatrician at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines, says someone who has measles is highly contagious.
Measles can lead to other health issues, like pneumonia.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends the first M-M-R shot for children who are between 12 and 15 months old and the second shot between the ages of four and six. There have been 284 cases of measles reported in the U-S this year, but none in Iowa. There have been cases of measles in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and South Dakota this year.
