2019 Pacific Northwest measles outbreak

In early months of 2019, a measles outbreak occurred in the Portland metropolitan area, including the Clark County, Washington suburbs, in the United States.

In late December 2018, the Public Health Department of Clark County, Washington identified a patient with a high fever and rash, which are symptoms characteristic of measles.

[7] The outbreak, which has struck mostly voluntarily non-immunized children, may have started at a Vancouver, Washington church attended by largely immigrant parents "who don't trust government – or vaccination programs" after residing in the former Soviet Union.

[1] Through the end of December 2018 and into January 2019, the number of measles cases in Clark County continued to increase, even after patients were placed in quarantine environments.

[10] Clark County public health officials identified that one of the measles patients from Oregon had been previously traveling through the Portland International Airport on January 7, which may have been related to more recent measles cases identified in the following weeks located in the states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington that emerged throughout January 2019.

[29] Personal belief exemptions (PBE) are forms that can be filled out by parents that excuse children from school-wide immunization requirements on the premise of moral, philosophical, or religious opposition.

[31] Despite the area's relatively low immunization rates, health officials have observed a recent spike in the number of people throughout Washington and Oregon interested in receiving a measles vaccine.

With the identification of more cases, public outrage continued to grow as the Washington Department of Health disclosed that, as of February 21, 2019, over one million dollars had been spent on the outbreak, largely to cover the costs of medical supplies and staff.

[37] In February 2019, YouTube stated that any user or channel endorsing anti-vaccination content will be demonetized entirely, and not receive any funding for advertisements played before videos.