New contracted health officer highlights measles surge and vaccination gaps

Dr. Mahoney, introduced at the meeting as the contracted health officer for Fargo Cass Public Health, opened the department's health update by flagging a sharp rise in measles and urging continued focus on immunization outreach. "Measles at the highest number they've ever been in 35 years and continue to go up, again 97 percent of the cases are not vaccinated and 9 percent of cases are hospitalized and so far this year we've had 2 deaths," he said.

The health officer reviewed local and state vaccine coverage numbers, saying Cass County's MMR rate was reported at about 81 percent while herd immunity requires roughly 93 percent. He noted a recent Federal Immunization Executive Order (08/10/2026) that proposed changes to the immunization schedule and observed that the proposed schedule changes did not, in his assessment, rely on new scientific findings and would not immediately alter state childcare immunization requirements. The board and staff discussed that no new vaccine products to implement the federal split-schedule are yet available in the U.S., so local practice remains unchanged.