Date: ??Courtesy of C. S. Goldsmith; William Bellini, Ph.D. Measles outbreaks were not supposed to happen according to our belief in vaccines. The NY Times and other publications have reported on outbreaks with the latest being in Texas. It is appropriate to wonder how effective a vaccine is if the promised protection does not happen, however it is not that simple. Vaccines overall are best at protecting a community when there is at least a buy in of 90% from the general public. For many years there was and then slowly certain groups became under vaccinated placing the group at risk. High vaccination rates reduce infection by crowding out the virus with people who are immune however, when the amount of immune people in the group decreases, the virus has a greater ability to infect and proliferate into the community as well as mutate. While vaccines are a miracle in our society, group immunity is necessary for how the vaccine works. The same problem presented itself with covid since the lower vaccination rates allowed mutation and proliferation of the virus. Recently, the NY Times looked into and reported on the recent problems with the outbreaks in Texas. Check it out below ‘I Feel Like I’ve Been Lied To’: When a Measles Outbreak Hits Home