EPHRATA, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Lancaster County, home to the largest Amish population in the U.S., is now the epicenter of the nation\u2019s worst measles outbreak in 35 years.<\/p>\n
Vaccination rates have long been low among the Amish, and are now falling in the general population, creating the perfect conditions for the contagious virus \u2014 officially considered \u201celiminated\u201d from the U.S. since 2000 \u2014 to spread here and beyond.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania has the most U.S. cases, with over 1,350 this year, more than a third in Lancaster County alone, according to state health figures. That\u2019s likely a big undercount, community leaders say, since many people with measles never see a doctor.<\/p>\n
The state has recorded three measles-associated deaths in Lancaster and two in other counties.<\/p>\n
The outbreak has especially hit the \u201cPlain communities\u201d of Amish and conservative Mennonites \u2014 so named for the religious groups\u2019 modest dress and limited use of technology. Vaccination rates, and attitudes about vaccines, range widely among them. But overall, they are less likely to be vaccinated than the general population, due more to culture and habit than doctrine.<\/p>\n
The outbreak follows ones in 2025 in Mennonite populations in Texas and elsewhere. Most states have recorded cases this year.<\/p>\n
And though the Plain People avoid participating in many areas of society, they’re not isolated. They interact with the general public at farmers markets, doctors’ offices and elsewhere. So their new openness to vaccines after bearing the brunt of the outbreak impacts the entire community.<\/p>\n
Here are some takeaways from The Associated Press\u2019 reporting:<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhile some think all Plain people reject vaccines, views actually vary<\/p>\n
Attitudes toward vaccines in Plain communities have alternately warmed and cooled over the years \u2014 most recently cooling in reaction to strict COVID-19 public health measures, according to community leaders and scholars. The measles outbreak is prompting many to accept the shots while reinforcing vaccine skepticism and suspicion in others.<\/p>\n
Those who avoid vaccines usually aren\u2019t driven by ideology, community leaders and experts say.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing in Amish theology or historic documents that you can find that specifically addresses or is opposed to immunization,\u201d said Steve Nolt, director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County.<\/p>\n
The main reason Plain people skip vaccinations isn’t that they’re against them, added Allen Hoover, an Old Order Mennonite and former administrator of the Parochial Medical Center in the town of New Holland. \u201cIt was simply, \u2018Well, we never did before, and we came through all right.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDropping vaccination rates across the US increase the threat of measles<\/p>\n
Measles spreads easily when people who have it breathe, cough or sneeze, or through contaminated surfaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeasles is really the lion king of infectious diseases when it comes to transmission,\u201d said Michael Osterholm, who directs the University of Minnesota\u2019s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. \u201cNo one in the United States of America who is susceptible to the measles virus, either having not been vaccinated or not having previously had it, should feel safe from measles. No one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The risk grows as vaccination rates decline \u2014 which has been happening across the nation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 92.4% of U.S. kindergarteners in 2025-26 received the required MMR shots. That\u2019s down from 95.2% in 2019-20.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough Plain communities are an easy and recognizable target, declining childhood vaccination rates in our county are not limited to the Amish,\u201d wrote Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, in a recent commentary. \u201cKindergarten vaccination rates have declined in every central Pennsylvania county since 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, Pennsylvania\u2019s overall kindergarten MMR vaccination rate fell to 93.2% by last year, which is below the 95% rate that makes an outbreak extremely unlikely in a community.<\/p>\n
During the COVID-19 pandemic, area doctors saw more vaccine hesitancy among patients within and outside of Plain communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe COVID vaccine just created a lot of distrust, a lot of conspiracy theories,\u201d said Dr. Anne-Marie Derrico, chief medical officer at the nonprofit Union Community Care. \u201cThere\u2019s still kind of an overall distrust of vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter a decline in trust, some minds are changing<\/p>\n
Lancaster County Commissioner Alice Yoder said public officials need to promote the message that the vaccine is safe and effective and encourage people to get it.<\/p>\n
That approach succeeded during Pennsylvania\u2019s last measles outbreak in 1991.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were lines of people in the Plain community that would come and get vaccinated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Dr. D. Holmes Morton, who founded the Central Pennsylvania Clinic in Mifflin County \u2014 which treats Plain patients with genetic diseases \u2014 said the same is happening now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are having more success at having vaccine days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, this will keep everyone safer, said Dr. Diego Hijano of St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital.<\/p>\n
Getting the shot is \u201can act of love to your community,\u201d he said. \u201cYou will get protected yourself. But in truth, you are actually protecting everyone around you.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
The Associated Press\u2019 health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EPHRATA, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Lancaster County, home to the largest Amish population in the U.S., is now the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[22226,30242,20365,6811,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-318763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-ap-health","tag-ap-religion","tag-ap-u-s-news","tag-associated-press","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}