Turns out, when you stop vaccinating kids because Facebook memes told you so, the 1800s come back to life—this time with Wi-Fi. New county-level data shows vaccination rates have slipped across most of the U.S., and measles, the disease we literally eliminated in 2000, is strutting around again like it owns the place.
In Gaines County, just south of Lubbock, kindergarten vaccination rates are so low (82.4%) that measles waltzed in, found no resistance, and set up shop. Nearly a quarter of all U.S. measles cases in 2025 are coming from one little corner of Texas. That’s right: West Texas isn’t just leading the nation in dust storms, we’re now a hotbed for preventable 19th-century plagues too. Yeehaw.
Nationally, experts say you need 95% vaccination to keep outbreaks at bay. Instead, three out of four counties in America are below that line. Before COVID, most counties were fine; now, thanks to “philosophical exemptions” and a flood of internet conspiracies, 286,000 kids are entering schools without their shots. Combine that with a federal Health Secretary who’s literally an anti-vax Kennedy, and we’re basically asking diseases to come on down like this is The Price Is Right.
Meanwhile, back home, measles is spreading from Mennonite communities in Gaines County across West Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma—because nothing says “family values” like bringing back diseases your grandparents fought to get rid of.
So let’s get this straight: Lubbock won’t fix the roads, can’t keep the dogs off the streets, and now we’re making room for measles too. At this point, should we just change the “Welcome to West Texas” signs to read: Population: Unvaccinated & Unpaved?
