Inside the perfect storm of the deadly measles outbreak in Texas

Gaines County is a vast, flat expanse far in the west of Texas: more than 1,500 square miles of sparsely populated farmland. And right now, this is the epicenter of a measles outbreak the likes of which this state hasn’t seen in more than 30 years. Many here say the Mennonites, a tight-knit Anabaptist community that works much of this land, are at the root of the outbreak’s lightning spread.

Gaines County is a vast, flat expanse far in the west of Texas: more than 1,500 square miles of sparsely populated farmland. And right now, this is the epicenter of a measles outbreak the likes of which this state hasn’t seen in more than 30 years. Many here say the virus has spread quickly among the Mennonites, a tight-knit Anabaptist community that works much of this land. “That’s the biggest cohort of the population that is unvaccinated,” said Dr. Leila Myrick, a physician on the front lines fighting this highly contagious and potentially fatal infection, which had been declared eliminated from the Unites States in 2000. “The predominant people that we’re seeing with it are in the Mennonite community. But it’s not only them.” There are now 159 identified measles cases across nine West Texas counties. A combination of a large, vaccine-hesitant religious community, some similar skepticism in the rest of the local population and laws that allow them to make a choice in vaccinating their children appear to be the combination fueling this spread. Many older Mennonites had to get vaccinated when they became American citizens after moving here from Mexico, starting in the 1970s. But many younger Mennonites are now choosing not to vaccinate their children, according to Tina Siemens, who runs a museum charting her people’s centuries-long flight from religious persecution in Europe and their years here in West Texas. “It’s not for religious reasons,” Siemens told CNN while standing in a museum replica of her grandparents’ spartan bedroom. She said there are no mandates in the Mennonite faith against vaccinations. Like in any other community, she says, they research the issue and come to an educated decision — a decision that is squarely in line with the centuries-old Mennonite tradition of self-sufficiency. “Because they were self-sustaining,” Siemens explained. “They did not go to the local doctor for everything, because they had a home remedy.”