Measles Epidemiology and Vaccine Use in Los Angeles County, 1963 and 1966

MEASLES has been the classic childhood illness in the United States, accepted by parents as an inevitable occurrence, along with wornout shoes and knee abrasions.Seldom has the general public recognized the complications of measles.encephalitis,pneumonia, otitis media, and neurological changes detectable only on electroencephalograms.Therefore, the vaccines for measles were not greeted with the same overwhelming demand as were the polio¬ myelitis vaccines.Even physicians have needed urging to adopt measles immunization as a rou¬ tine in their practices (1).The first vaccine for protection against mea¬ sles was licensed in March 1963.In Los Angeles County, this and subsequent vaccines were used only in private practice until July 1,1965, when the county health department obtained funds to immunize infants in the well-baby clinics.Not until April 1966, when a measles epidemic threatened the county, was measles vaccine used communitywide in Los Angeles County.The effect of this mass measles immunization will be analyzed in a separate paper.My study was undertaken to determine if use