This is part of The Vaccine Divide, an updated data investigation into America potentially losing its measles-free status as the deadly virus roars back and childhood vaccine defenses continue to crack and crumble.
As vaccination rates among children go down, the risk of getting sick from a vaccine-preventable illness such as measles goes up.
Use these maps to see the childhood vaccination rates for your community.
The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is highly effective in preventing illness in children and adults. To control the spread of measles in a community, a vaccination rate of 95% or higher is needed. A growing number of counties across the country are seeing the level of vaccination among children entering kindergarten drop below that protective threshold.
The number of children entering kindergarten whose parents or caregivers opt them out of vaccines has been steadily climbing in the U.S. for at least a decade. States differ in their requirements for vaccine exemptions, which can be for medical, religious or personal beliefs.

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Medical experts are warning of a dangerous new social media trend known as “heightmaxxing,” amid reports that teenagers are taking black-market cancer medications in an effort to grow taller.
Adolescents, primarily teenage boys, are reportedly turning to erdafitinib — often referred to online as “ERDA” or “Erta” — a targeted prescription drug approved to treat advanced bladder cancer.
Teenagers are reportedly experimenting with the prescription medication after encountering online discussions suggesting it could increase height.
DOCTORS WARN OF ‘LOOKSMAXXING’ DANGERS AFTER INFLUENCER’S LIVESTREAM EMERGENCY
“It’s extremely concerning that teenagers are experimenting with powerful cancer medications in an attempt to grow taller,” Dr. Stephanie Widmer, a New York City-based emergency medicine physician and Fox News medical contributor, told Fox News Digital.
“These drugs were developed to treat serious medical conditions, not to enhance physical appearance, and taking them without a legitimate medical indication or physician supervision can have devastating consequences.”
The drug maker, Johnson & Johnson, pushed back against the practice in a statement to Rolling Stone, emphasizing that the medication has never been approved to stimulate height growth and that its safety and effectiveness have not been established for any pediatric or adolescent use.
Medical research has documented unexpected growth spurts in children receiving erdafitinib for brain tumors. A 2024 study published in Hormone Research in Paediatrics described accelerated growth in two pediatric patients, while a separate case report documented a teenager who grew more than 5 inches during treatment but developed serious skeletal complications.
CALLOUT:
Physicians caution that these spurts do not equal healthy skeletal growth. Dr. Jessica Gray, a family physician in Lubbock, Texas, warned that forced, rapid growth can trigger dangerous structural problems, including premature growth plate damage and bone fractures.
POPULAR WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS FACE NUMEROUS LAWSUITS OVER RARE ‘EYE STROKE’ LINKED TO VISION LOSS
The drug works by blocking specific cellular signaling pathways involved in cancer cell growth, Widmer shared during an appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
Those same pathways also play a role in bone development, which may help explain why some pediatric patients experienced unexpected growth during treatment.
Widmer noted that height is overwhelmingly governed by genetics, and biological shortcuts do not exist. Once growth plates close near the end of puberty, medications cannot reopen them, meaning older adolescents taking the compound are incurring catastrophic health hazards without any chance of gaining height, she said.
“One of the biggest concerns is that these medications can cause serious side effects, including potentially permanent vision damage, elevated phosphate levels and other metabolic abnormalities,” Widmer said.
“We’re talking about adolescents whose bodies are still developing, and exposing them to these risks for a cosmetic goal is particularly troubling.”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
Other warning signs and side effects linked to the medication include skeletal pain — especially in the hips or knees — as well as mouth sores, loose nails and skin disorders.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
The trend has also raised concerns about the influence of social media on teenagers’ decisions about their health. Widmer noted that online discussions about physical appearance and self-improvement can expose young men to potentially unsafe practices that lack medical evidence.
“Parents need to understand that this goes beyond teenagers being insecure about their height,” the doctor said.
“We’re talking about young people potentially obtaining prescription cancer medications and experimenting with them outside of medical supervision. If a child has concerns about their growth, that conversation belongs in a pediatrician’s office, not on an internet forum.”
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
Doctors advise parents to watch for symptoms such as unusual joint pain or unexplained physical changes, and to speak with their children if they suspect they are using medications obtained online.
Teenagers concerned about their height or growth should consult a pediatrician before considering any medication.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The owner of the California farm linked to the E. coli outbreak that left more than 15 people severely sick, including a 6-year-old boy fighting for his life, said his heart goes out to the suffering families.
Brookshire Farms in San Luis Obispo County reopened on Nov. 6 after a 10-day voluntary shutdown while the Department of Public Health investigated the source of the E. coli outbreak.
​“I am destroyed,” Brookshire Farms co-owner Shawn Callaway told The Tribune Friday as the farm reopened for the public.
“We’ve gone through … about 11 days now of numbness. I can’t explain it… I mean, the worries, the fears, the concerns, the ups and downs. I mean, how do you explain it? I don’t know,” he added.
​Authorities said 5 people had laboratory-confirmed E. coli O157 infections after visiting the farm on Oct. 17 or 18, while 10 additional individuals who visited the farm between Oct. 16 and 26 developed matching symptoms.
​Three children also required pediatric intensive care after developing Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS).
Among the affected children is 6-year-old Camden Foy of Nipomo, who is in critical condition at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital with STEC and HUS following an Oct. 17 visit to Brookshire Farms.
​His grandmother, Linda Strong-Foy, has been sharing constant updates on his health since his hospitalization nearly three weeks ago.
​Camden was admitted to a Santa Maria hospital and subsequently diagnosed on Oct. 27 with HUS, prompting an emergency ambulance transfer to Stanford.
​The tot’s condition quickly escalated into acute neurological complications, leading to severe confusion, brain scans for potential stroke or seizure activity, intubation, and multiple rounds of blood and platelet transfusions between Oct. 29 and 30.
​“He’s on 5 blood pressure meds. An IV BP drip, 3 orals, and a BP patch,” Strong-Foy said in a Facebook post Monday.
​SLO County’s Department of Public Health collected water, food, and other environmental samples at the farm but did not find E. coli O157 specifically.
​The department said that other types of bacteria, including other strains of E. coli, were found at the farm in some samples, but those results did not identify the source of the E. coli O157 outbreak.
​“Although it’s frustrating to not be able to pinpoint the exact source of the infection through environmental lab testing, this is not unexpected, and bacterial contamination is often temporary and difficult to detect through available sampling methods,” County Health Officer Dr. Christy Mulkerin said in a Nov. 6 statement.
Callaway said cleanliness is not a problem at the farm, with the 17 restrooms cleaned regularly and pumped twice a week. There are also 17 handwashing stations and eight sanitizing stations.
He added that he doesn’t think the pumpkins were the source of the outbreak because many of the victims had no contact with them.
“(The county) never tested our pumpkins,” Callaway told The Tribune. “They refused to test our pumpkins and said it was not in their investigational area because the pumpkins didn’t have the ability to get tested correctly.”
In the days following the outbreak, the county advised residents to wash their pumpkins and avoid touching ones that had already been carved.
As a result, San Luis Opisbo and Santa Maria canceled their annual pumpkin smash events.
Mulkerin later said the county didn’t intend to imply that the pumpkins were the source of the infection.
“We’re really trying to emphasize to the public, ‘Please don’t be afraid of pumpkins,’” she told The Tribune.

There’s no sugar-coating it: More than two and five American adults have prediabetes.
This condition causes higher-than-normal blood sugar levels that spike with certain foods. Without lifestyle changes, up to 70% of them will develop type 2 diabetes.
But prediabetes is a warning sign, not a life sentence. Doctors will recommend losing weight, changing their diet, and getting more exercise in to get out of the prediabetic blood sugar zone.
New research says another tool could help manage prediabetes — while you sleep.
Sleeping with air purifiers stabilized blood sugar levels in people with prediabetes during the day, researchers at NYU Langone found.
Here’s how what’s in your air affects your blood.
Air pollution and prediabetes
Foods like grains and sugars break down into glucose which goes into the bloodstream. In response, the pancreas makes insulin to move the glucose into cells for energy.
In people with prediabetes, insulin production struggles to keep up with the blood sugar, causing dramatic blood sugar spikes. Over time, those spikes put increased demand on the pancreas, decreasing its function, making the condition worse — potentially leading to type 2 diabetes.
Research has been growing on the link between air pollution and diabetes. Experts believe that microscopic pieces of dust, dirt, smoke and soot enter the lungs and get into the bloodstream.
This can contribute to everything from heart disease to stroke, cancer, and kidney disease. But in diabetes, they believe it’s triggering inflammation that damages cells, disrupting how they respond to insulin.
A 2024 study on mice suggests that air pollution creates inflammation in the brain, either directly or from inflammation in the lungs. The brain’s immune system reacts, and disrupts insulin signaling in the hypothalamus.
Clearing the air
For the first time in humans, researchers tested whether high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters could control the blood sugar spikes that make prediabetes worse.
They had half the participants sleep with real filters for a month, while the other half slept with fake filters that didn’t actually clean the air. Participants wore continuous glucose monitors that took blood sugar measurements every few minutes.
The real filters cleaned 36% of harmful air particles. The cleaner air was associated with nearly a 8% drop in blood sugar swings.
“Our findings suggest that cleaner air at home, especially in the bedroom, may help people with prediabetes keep their blood sugar steady,” said lead author and cardiologist Sharine L. Wittkopp.
One of the most impactful swings are the ones right after breakfast.
Blood sugar in the morning can already be high because of the dawn phenomenon — when cortisol and growth hormone signal the liver to boost glucose early in the morning to provide energy to wake up. Insulin can also fall over night, another factor increasing blood glucose.
By the time you eat breakfast, blood sugar is already high.
Researchers of this new study found that air purifiers helped with this. Total blood sugar after eating breakfast fell by 17% on average, and peak levels lowered by 13%.
Other benefits
Separate research suggests that air pollution cardiovascular disease worse, and increase risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack.
“Our results add to a growing body of evidence that poor air quality is a threat not only to lung health but to heart and metabolic health as well,” said author Jonathan Newman.
“These findings support broader efforts to reduce air pollution and suggest that healthcare providers should consider indoor air quality when helping patients manage their cardiometabolic risk.”
Not all air filters are created equal. HEPA filters trap microscopic irritants like dust, pollen, mold and bacteria and are required to meet standards from the Department of Energy in the US.
“Installing HEPA filters offers an easy, low-cost tool to help protect heart and metabolic health along with healthy eating, regular exercise, and prescribed medications.” Wittkopp said.

The future of hair loss treatment might be a bit more shocking than expected. Recent research showcases an experimental electrical comb that seems especially effective at combating baldness—at least in mice.
Scientists at Beihang University in China developed the contraption, which they’ve dubbed “Detangle.” Shaved mice treated with the comb experienced substantially more hair regrowth than mice given existing medications like minoxidil, the active ingredient in Rogaine, they found. Though more study is needed, the researchers are hopeful their device can be a valuable treatment for androgenetic alopecia, the most common form of baldness.
“[T]hese results demonstrate that electrostimulation via the Detangle system promotes hair growth and follicle regeneration in a safe and effective manner,” they wrote in their paper, published this month in the journal Nature Communications.
A detangled success
Minoxidil is an effective treatment for androgenetic alopecia, but it has its drawbacks. Many users hate the messy topical gels or creams typically used for application, for instance. Pill-based versions of minoxidil are easier to take but may cause unwanted hair growth elsewhere. And importantly, some people simply fail to respond to the drug or only experience modest regrowth.
Another limitation of topical agents like minoxidil is that very little of the drug actually manages to push through the skin and reach the hair follicles where it’s needed. That’s one limitation the researchers are aiming to address with their Detangle system—a name inspired by the 2010 Disney film retelling of Rapunzel, Tangled.
The Detangle comb has several components. It features two types of teeth with different lengths, with one type containing therapeutic molecules. As the comb is used, it delivers small pulses of electricity, while the differently-sized teeth are supposed to gently raise up the skin. These pulses and the skin-raising action are intended to generate a stronger electrical field than normally possible, which then makes it easier for the molecules to penetrate deeper into the skin.
Androgenetic alopecia, also called pattern baldness, is caused by hair follicles that are overly sensitive to androgens, particularly the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT). In these latest experiments, the researchers relied on two molecules to stymie pattern baldness: a plasmid that encourages new blood vessel growth and SRD5A2 siRNA to suppress the production of DHT.
The researchers tested the comb on mice modeled to have the condition. This meant the mice had their backs shaved and were dosed with testosterone for 28 days. Afterward, some mice were given topical minoxidil or oral finasteride (another common hair loss treatment), while others were combed daily with Detangle.
Overall, the detangled mice saw much more hair return than mice given either conventional drug. By the end of the month, the mice on Detangle experienced nearly 100% hair regrowth on their shaved backs, compared to the roughly 70% hair regrowth seen in the minoxidil group. Tests also showed that the comb effectively delivered the molecules to the mice and that it didn’t cause any noticeable harm to their skin.
What comes next?
Obviously, this is only an early test in mice. Plenty more research will be needed, including studies in human volunteers, before we can know whether the Detangle comb will work well in people with pattern baldness.
Still, the researchers are optimistic that their system can eventually provide the roughly 1.5 billion people living with androgenetic alopecia another treatment option. And it may even have applications for other conditions that involve the skin.
“The Detangle system proves safe and effective for deep tissue delivery in dermatology,” they wrote.