The Ministry of Health reports that a 7-year-old child from Jerusalem with an underlying health condition, who had received one dose of the measles vaccine, passed away yesterday upon arrival at the emergency department due to complications from the disease.
This is the ninth death since the measles outbreak began. Until now, all previous cases involved healthy infants with no underlying conditions who were unvaccinated.
As of today, 16 patients are hospitalized, including 8 in intensive care after contracting measles.
The Ministry of Health reiterates that measles is preventable with a safe and effective vaccine.
The ministry emphasizes the importance of seeking medical care promptly if symptoms appear or if exposure to measles is suspected. Timely care saves lives.
Vaccination recommendations
It is recommended that all children be vaccinated at 1 year and again at 6 years (as part of the immunization schedule). In outbreak areas:
- The second dose should be given early, at 18 months of age.
- An additional dose is recommended for infants aged 6–11 months in outbreak areas or when traveling to outbreak areas.
Current outbreak areas: Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak, Harish, Modiin Illit, Nof HaGalil, Kiryat Gat, Ashdod, Safed, Netivot, the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, and Tekoa.
In these areas, families can visit family care clinics, HMOs, or measles vaccination stations set up to boost immunization efforts—no prior appointment is required.
The Ministry also advises unvaccinated individuals, and parents of infants who have received only one dose between 6–11 months, to avoid large gatherings in outbreak areas due to the risk of infection.
Following the Ministry of Health’s efforts to increase vaccine coverage, since September there has been a 500% increase in vaccinations in Jerusalem compared to the same period last year, and an even higher increase of 630% in Beit Shemesh. As a result, first-dose coverage (ages 1–6) for measles rose from 77% to 84% in Jerusalem and from 72% to 82.6% in Beit Shemesh.
- Watch (in Hebrew) a video from Dr. Sefi Mandelovitz, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health, and pediatric ICU directors, on the importance of measles vaccination. Credit: Ministry of Health.
- Watch (in Hebrew) a video from Prof. Shlomo Mor Yosef, Chair of Leumit Health Services, about measles and the vaccine. Credit: Ministry of Health.
- Link to the Ministry of Health’s “Data World” dashboard for measles statistics.