The Allegheny County Health Department will offer the measles vaccine for free to certain at-risk individuals today in Pittsburgh’s Homewood section, officials said.

The clinic will run from noon to 4 p.m. at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA on Bennett Street, according to a release from department Director Dr. Karen Hacker.

A limited number of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine will be available, and they will be limited to individuals aged 1 to 61 who have not been vaccinated.

Children less than a year old, anyone born before 1957, anyone who has had the measles, pregnant women and immune-compromised individuals are not eligible for the vaccine clinic, officials said.

Those eligible will be vaccinated on a first-come, first-served basis and must fill out intake and consent forms.

Health department officials stressed that most people are not at risk because they have either received the vaccine or already had the measles. Those born before 1957 are considered immune.

One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective and two doses is 97% effective, according to the health department. Vaccination recommendations include:

Children 12 months or older should have two doses, the first at 12 to 15 months and a second dose between 4 and 6 years. Health care personnel, college students and international travelers should have two doses of MMR. Adults born during or after 1957 should have at least one dose of MMR or documented evidence of disease. Adults born before 1957 are considered immune. For international travel, infants 6 to 11 months should have one dose of MMR, and children 12 months and older should receive 2 doses of MMR, separated by at least 28 days.

Five cases of measles are confirmed in Allegheny County over the past three weeks. Four of those cases were in the same family.

Of the four family members, three were visiting the area from overseas, and one was an unvaccinated Allegheny County resident, officials said. Only two of them left the house while infectious, according to the health department.

One child was infectious while traveling in mid-April from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Newark Liberty International Airport and on to Pittsburgh International Airport, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sites of possible exposure in recent weeks are:

April 16, Pittsburgh International Airport, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. April 17, Milky Way restaurant on Murray Avenue, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. April 24, Red, White & Blue thrift store on Ohio River Boulevard, 11:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. April 28, the National Aviary on Arch Street, 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. May 1, Enterprise Rent-a-Car on Babcock Boulevard, 2p.m. to 5 p.m.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---