‘It Will Take Off Like a Wildfire’: The Unique Dangers of the Washington State Measles Outbreak

Lax state laws have helped drive down vaccination rates across the Pacific Northwest, leaving the region vulnerable to catastrophe, public health officials say

Amber Gorrow holds her 8-week-old son Leon at their home in Vancouver, Wash. He is too young for a measles vaccination right now, so his mother keeps him at home as much as possible to limit his exposure to the disease. Photos: Alisha Jucevic for the Washington Post

By Lena H. Sun and Maureen O’Hagan

Amber Gorrow is afraid to leave her house with her infant son because she lives at the epicenter of Washington state’s worst measles outbreak in more than two decades. Born eight weeks ago, Leon is too young to get his first measles shot, putting him at risk for the highly contagious respiratory virus, which can be fatal in small children.

Gorrow also lives in a community where she said being anti-vaccine is as acceptable as being vegan or going gluten-free. Almost a quarter of kids in Clark County, Wash., a suburb of Portland, Ore., go to school without measles, mumps, and rubella immunizations, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) recently declared a state of emergency amid concern that things could rapidly spin out of control.

Measles outbreaks have sprung up in nine other states this winter, but officials are particularly alarmed about the one in Clark County because of its potential to go very big, very…