In rural Pennsylvania, nurse Dale Weiser has traded her clinic for kitchen tables. For months, she’s driven up to 30 miles (about 48 km) a day into Amish farm country, going door to door to vaccinate families against measles as the state battles its worst outbreak of the disease in more than three decades.
Weiser, who works for the Chester County Health Department, says many of the people she visits lack health insurance and rarely interact with the conventional medical system—not necessarily because they oppose vaccines, but because getting them simply hasn’t been practical. By showing up in person and answering questions patiently, she’s helped shift minds one household at a time, vaccinating around 100 people so far.
State health officials say they’ve delivered nearly 4,300 doses of the MMR vaccine at pop-up clinics near the outbreak’s center since late April. Still, four people have died from measles-related complications, including two newborns, an 18-year-old, and a 40-year-old woman—making this the deadliest US measles outbreak since 1992.
Pennsylvania is home to roughly 90,000 Amish, a devout Christian community known for shunning modern conveniences like cars and, often, routine medical care. Experts estimate only about a quarter of Amish residents in the Lancaster area have received the MMR vaccine. Because the community is tightly knit and highly social, the virus spreads quickly once it reaches a congregation.
You can read the full BBC report for more on how health workers are building trust in this close-knit community.
Source: In Amish country, nurses go door to door to stop deadly spread of measles (feeds.bbci.co.uk).
Image: SELF Magazine, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).