--- title: Measles Outbreak in Minnesota Linked to Anti-Vaccine Groups description: Minnesota is experiencing the largest outbreak of measles in nearly 30 years, specifically within a community of Somali immigrants canonical: https://time.com/4769385/minnesota-measles-outbreak-vaccine/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-05T21:10:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:47:04.725Z article:section: Health og:title: Minnesota Is Experiencing Its Largest Outbreak of Measles in Nearly 30 Years og:description: It appears to be linked to the anti-vaccine movement og:url: https://time.com/4769385/minnesota-measles-outbreak-vaccine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Minnesota Is Experiencing Its Largest Outbreak of Measles in Nearly 30 Years twitter:description: It appears to be linked to the anti-vaccine movement twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Minnesota Is Experiencing Its Largest Outbreak of Measles in Nearly 30 Years by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 5, 2017 9:10 PM UTC by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 5, 2017 9:10 PM UTC [Minnesota](http://time.com/4694921/tim-kaine-son-arrested-donald-trump/) is having its largest outbreak of [measles](http://time.com/3752436/ebola-measles-vaccination/) in nearly 30 years after a number of [Somalian](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/8851/america-is-expanding-its-secretive-war-in-somalia) immigrants apparently bought into the rhetoric of [anti-vaccination](http://time.com/4736871/vaccine-skeptics-parents-information/) campaigners and did not vaccinate their children. The state has confirmed 41 cases of the disease since April 11, according to a [press release from the Minnesota Department of Health](http://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2017/measles050417.html), resulting in the largest outbreak this year in the U.S. despite measles being eradicated in the country the early 2000s. Eleven patients had been hospitalized as of Friday, Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health, [told the New York _Times_.](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/us/measles-minnesota-vaccines.html?smid=tw-share) All of the patients except one adult health care worker were children younger than 10, Schultz said. Schultz said that anti-vaccine activists had “targeted” members of the Somali community in Minnesota. Measles is highly contagious and cause severe illness and death. Andrew Wakefield, founder of the modern anti-vaccine movement, [told the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/anti-vaccine-activists-spark-a-states-worst-measles-outbreak-in-decades/2017/05/04/a1fac952-2f39-11e7-9dec-764dc781686f%5Fstory.html?hpid=hp%5Fhp-top-table-main%5Fmeasles-910a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm%5Fterm=.1a2d1c255a78) Friday that he doesn’t “feel responsible at all.” “The Somalis had decided themselves that they were particularly concerned,” Wakefield said. “I was responding to that.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4769385/minnesota-measles-outbreak-vaccine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4769385/minnesota-measles-outbreak-vaccine/"},"headline":"Minnesota Is Experiencing Its Largest Outbreak of Measles in Nearly 30 Years","datePublished":"2017-05-05T21:10:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:47:04.725Z","description":"It appears to be linked to the anti-vaccine movement","url":"https://time.com/4769385/minnesota-measles-outbreak-vaccine/","keywords":["Minnesota","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/minnesota/","name":"Minnesota"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4769385/minnesota-measles-outbreak-vaccine/","name":"Minnesota Is Experiencing Its Largest Outbreak of Measles in Nearly 30 Years"}}]}] ```