NEW ULM — Brown County Public Health Director Jaimee Brand called Minnesota’s declining MMR (mumps, measles, and rubella) vaccinate rates concerning Thursday.

“Vaccine rates are steadily decreasing over time. Our vaccine rates used to be above 90%. It is concerning. There is a lot of vaccine misinformation out there,” said Brand.

The latest Brown County MMR vaccination rates are 78.4% for children up to two years old; 83.3% for children 5-7 years old.

More than 90% of Minnesota kindergarten students were fully vaccinated until the 2019-2020 school year, according to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). Fully vaccination rates of kindergarten students have slowly declined since then.

Statistics show about 87% of Minnesota kindergartners have the required two doses of the MMR vaccine. Experts say 95% coverage is required to reach “herd immunity,” a situation where it is difficult for a disease to spread.

Brand said Minnesota now has 21 confirmed, positive measles cases, one more than last week. There was a positive signal in Rochester wastewater, but not a positive case yet, according to the MDH.

“We don’t typically have many measles cases in Minnesota. This is a lot of cases for Minnesota. That’s why it’s important to be vaccinated for measles. Most people should be immunized,” she said.

As of Oct. 21, a total of 1,618 confirmed measles cases were reported in the U.S. There have been 43 outbreaks reported in 2025. Most (87%) of confirmed cases are outbreak-associated. Ninety-two percent of cases involve unvaccinated or unknown individuals. There have been three confirmed measles deaths in 2025.

Measles can be dangerous, especially for babies and young children. Measles spreads through the air when a sick person coughs or sneezes. Measles can cause pneumonia, brain swelling and death.

Measles is a rare disease in Minnesota and in the United States, However, it is still common in other parts of the world. Most measles cases occuring in Minnesota result from someone traveling to or from countries where measles is common, and who are infectious with measles after arriving in Minnesota.

Measles can spread easily to unvaccinated persons. Maintaining high immunization rates is essential to prevent measles, which can lead to serious complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis.

Rubella can cause severe birth defects if contracted during pregnancy.

The MMR vaccine is typically given in two doses, starting at 12-15 months of age and a second dose at 4-6 years.

Brand told county commissioners Tuesday that flu shots are available at the office.

Although there were eight flu hospitalizations, no school and long-term care outbreaks in Minnesota as of Oct. 16, Brand advised the public to schedule flu and COVID-19 shots by calling the public health office to schedule immunizations.

She talked about problems with lack of immunity.

“COVID-19 is having a moment in the United Kingdom with hospitalizations increasing exponentially after a 10-month lull,” said Brand. “This isn’t driven by a dramatic variant, but rather by a lack of immunity building up over time. Flu may also be increasing, which suggests it’s coming soon, as expected, for the U.S.”

National COVID-19 test positivity is 6.7% for the week ending Sept. 27, down from 7.9% the previous week, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Brand said 18 turkey flocks in Minnesota have been detected with H5N1, a strain of highly-pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that affects birds and dairy cattle around the world.

“The University of Minnesota Raptor Center continues to see positive birds of prey with a positive bald eagle and great horned owl reported this week,” said Brand. “Nationally, 47 confirmed flocks have been detected in the last 30 days including 26 commercial flocks and 21 backyard flocks. Most activity is in the Midwest.

She said there is one confirmed/probable pertussis case in Brown County as of Oct. 9. Infants and pregnant persons are at higher risk of severe illness from pertussis.

For more information, call Brown County Public Health at 507-233-6820 or visit https://www.browncountymn.gov/297/Public-Health and cdc.gov.