Central Ohio's measles outbreak is over

Central Ohio's measles outbreak that led the U.S. in 2022 has officially ended with 85 cases, public health officials declared Thursday.

The latest: No local cases have been recorded since Dec. 24.

• A 42-day threshold — two incubation periods of the virus — has passed and all pending tests are processed.

Yes, but: The CDC warns that declining child vaccination rates during the pandemic could leave the door open for future outbreaks of measles and other once-eradicated diseases.

Threat level: In the 2021-2022 school year, 88.3% of Ohio kindergartners had received both doses of their MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, per the CDC's latest report.

• That's a decline of nearly 4% since 2017.
• Documented vaccine exemptions increased by just 0.4% in that timeframe.

The big picture: National vaccination rates that once trended around 94-95% for kindergartners are now around 93%.

What they're saying: "While we are grateful this measles outbreak is behind us, we know we are just one missed vaccine away from the next one," Columbus Public Health spokesperson Kelli Newman tells Axios.