The worst measles outbreak in Texas in 30 years has been linked to an isolated Mennonite community. Last week authorities announced that an unvaccinated six-year-old had become the first casualty of the outbreak and the first measles-related death in the US since 2015. The death of the "otherwise healthy" child "starkly illustrates the stakes of slipping immunisation rates", said The Washington Post.
The child was from Gaines County, a rural area in West Texas at the "epicentre" of the wave. Infections have quickly spread within the county's Mennonites, a "diverse religious sect of thousands". The origins of the outbreak are unclear, but a Texas Health Department spokesperson said that the "close-knit and under-vaccinated" nature of the Mennonite community was likely a key factor in its spread.
What are Mennonites?
Named for an early leader, Menno Simons, Mennonites are descended from the Anabaptist Christian movement, which emerged in the 1500s as "the radical wing" of Europe's Protestant Reformation. Today, there are more than two million baptised members of Anabaptist sects in 86 countries, according to the Mennonite World Conference. About 30% live in North America.
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Anabaptists suffered persecution under both Catholic and Protestant rulers, a legacy that "still influences some groups today in their suspicion of governmental authorities", said The Independent, including "sometimes strained" relations with public health officials.
Mennonites believe in "non-violence, unconditional forgiveness, adult baptism, church discipline, and a refusal to bear arms or swear oaths". But believers "vary widely in practice". Some have "largely assimilated into mainstream culture"; others are more similar to the Amish, with "tight-knit, separatist communities" marked by limited technology and traditional clothes.
Are they being scapegoated?
The spotlight on Mennonites has "bred resentment in the community that they are being unfairly blamed" for the outbreak, said The Washington Post.
Health officials have said they weren't trying to do so. "The real issue is that there's a lot of people in that area – Mennonites and people who are not Mennonites – who are not vaccinated," said the Texas Health Department spokesperson.
All 50 US states require children to be vaccinated before they can attend school, but most states – including Texas – allow exemptions for religious or personal beliefs. Across the US, the proportion of exempted children has risen to an all-time high, according to federal data from last year.
And Gaines County has a "disproportionately high level" of exemptions, said The New York Times. A "whopping" 47.9% of students from one of the county's three public school districts claimed them in the 2023-24 school year.
As is the case with most major religions, the Mennonite movement does not have a formal anti-vaccination position. "Historically and theologically, there has not been any religious teaching against immunisation in Mennonite circles," Steven Nolt, professor of history and Anabaptist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, told The Associated Press. "There's no religious prohibition, no body of religious writing on it at all."
Jake Fehr, the pastor at Seminole's Mennonite Evangelical Church in Gaines County, said there was a "misconception" that Mennonites weren't vaccinated. "We have not been out there teaching against vaccinations or for people not to obey the government," Fehr told The Houston Chronicle. Fehr is "one of many Mennonites" in the county who refused the Covid-19 vaccine, said the paper.
Nevertheless, the measles outbreak has already started to spread to other under-vaccinated communities in the region, said FirstPost. "Experts warn that low immunisation rates in these communities create conditions for measles to spread rapidly."
