Health · Public Health & Disease · 10 hrs ago
Measles outbreak in Pennsylvania prompts more Amish to consider vaccines
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is at the center of the worst U.S. measles outbreak in 35 years.
Amish and conservative Mennonite communities have historically had lower vaccination rates, often because vaccination was not part of their usual practice rather than because of religious opposition.
Pennsylvania has reported more than 1,350 cases this year, including more than a third in Lancaster County, and five measles-associated deaths statewide.
Amish and Mennonite residents regularly mix with the wider public at markets, clinics and other places, so the outbreak can affect people beyond those communities.
Some Plain community members are now more open to vaccines, and local clinics have given about 450 measles shots.
Doctors warn cases could rise again in winter, when people gather indoors more often.
Pennsylvania has recorded more than 1,350 measles cases this year, the most of any U.S. state, with more than a third in Lancaster County.
Lancaster County, home to the country’s largest Amish population, is the epicenter of the nation’s worst measles outbreak in 35 years.
The outbreak has hit Amish and conservative Mennonite communities particularly hard, where vaccination rates are generally lower than among the wider public.
Some people in these communities are becoming more open to vaccination, while others remain skeptical.
Clinics serving Plain communities have administered about 450 measles shots.
- Who
- Amish and conservative Mennonite communities in Pennsylvania, along with the wider public. Some people in Plain communities are reconsidering vaccination.
- What
- A measles outbreak has spread in Pennsylvania, prompting some Plain community members to consider vaccines.
- When
- The outbreak is ongoing in 2026. Pennsylvania’s measles rates declined from a September peak.
- Where
- Pennsylvania, especially Lancaster County.
- Why
- Low vaccination rates have created conditions for measles to spread. Sources say lower vaccination among Plain communities is due more to culture and habit than doctrine.
Vaccine acceptance
Vaccine skepticism
Views
Vaccine acceptance
Some people in Plain communities are accepting measles shots, and the outbreak has prompted greater openness to vaccination.
Vaccine skepticism
Others remain skeptical or suspicious of vaccines, with attitudes shaped in part by reaction to COVID-19 public health measures.
Reasons for vaccination decisions
Vaccine acceptance
The outbreak is leading some people to seek protection against measles.
Vaccine skepticism
Community leaders and experts say people who skip vaccination often do so because they never vaccinated before and believe they did well without it, rather than from ideology.
Measles outbreaks affected Mennonite populations in Texas and elsewhere.
Pennsylvania’s measles rates reached a peak.
Pennsylvania’s rates had declined from their September peak, though some doctors expected cases to rise as winter brought more indoor gatherings.
- Pennsylvania cases
- More than 1,350 this year
- Lancaster County share
- More than a third of Pennsylvania’s cases
- Deaths
- Three measles-associated deaths in Lancaster County and two in other counties
- Union Community Care clinics
- About 450 measles shots
- U.S. kindergarten MMR coverage
- 92.4% in 2025-26, down from 95.2% in 2019-20
4 sources
As a historic measles outbreak hits Pennsylvania Amish country, more show openness to vaccines
As a measles outbreak hits Pennsylvania Amish country, more show openness to vaccines
Amish population in Lancaster County hit by measles outbreak
What people are saying
We are all interconnected
There’s no way to imagine that this is going to be an isolated community
There’s nothing in Amish theology or historic documents that you can find that specifically addresses or is opposed to immunization
It was simply, ‘Well, we never did before, and we came through all right.’