Wyandotte County, Kansas, offering low-cost measles vaccines to prevent potential outbreak

Sofi Zeman, The Kansas City Star on May 14, 2025

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WYANDOTTE COUNTY, Kan. — Although Wyandotte County has yet to see a reported measles outbreak, public health officials are readying public guidance and offering vaccine services as the disease inches north from southwest Kansas.

As of May 7, Kansas’s 48 reported measles cases remained among eight counties in the state’s southwest corner, according to a state dashboard tracking the disease. The state’s northeast counties and others in the Kansas City metro had not reported any new cases as of publication time. The majority of patients testing positive for measles are unvaccinated.

If measles makes its way into Wyandotte County, it would be the second old world disease local officials would have had to tackle in recent months. The county fell under national observation last year and into 2025 after Wyandotte and Johnson Counties became the epicenter of a major tuberculosis outbreak.

Elisha Caldwell, the former health director, parted ways with the Wyandotte County Public Health Department after in-house conflicts among federal and state agencies broke out throughout the course of the outbreak response.

Between the 2024 outbreak and May 9, the two counties accounted for 68 active tuberculosis cases, 62 which were in Wyandotte, according to the state health department. The number of latent cases of tuberculosis in Wyandotte County was 93.

Making it easier to access vaccines

Among the Wyandotte County Public Health Department’s efforts underway is connecting young children with low-cost vaccinations. Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools has among the lowest kindergarten vaccination rates in the state, local officials told The Star last month, putting residents at a higher risk of rapid exposure should the disease hit the metro.

The department offers $20 vaccines for children who do not have insurance or whose insurance coverage is limited. On the first Monday of the month, the health department waives that $20 fee for qualifying children under the age of 2. Adults may also visit the department for vaccines with lifetime immunity, such as the MMR shot, or for immunity testing.

“We encourage community members to engage with our services or reach out to their health care provider now to stay up to date on their routine immunizations,” a department spokesperson wrote in a statement last week.

Wyandotte County residents who wish to make an appointment may contact the health department at 913-573-8855. Any resident who needs transportation assistance to get to their appointment may receive that, free of charge, if they inform the department when setting up an appointment, a health department spokesperson told The Star.

Although the department tells pregnant patients or patients actively trying to get pregnant about having their children vaccinated, those patients should not get vaccinated until later on.

“Patients shouldn’t get the MMR vaccine while pregnant or attempting to become pregnant,” according to the department. “If planning to get pregnant in the future, it’s good to go ahead and get vaccinated now.” Mothers who are breastfeeding are safe to get the vaccine.

The health department website links to its various local vaccination and laboratory services and offers a breakdown of measles symptoms, complications and travel guidelines.