When health officials in Minnesota were confronted by the biggest outbreak of measles in decades, they knew that earning the community’s trust would be crucial.

The section of the community most affected by the outbreak that eventually infected 79 people, the same as for the entire country in any average year, were Somali-Americans. The vast majority were children under 10 who had not been vaccinated.

The state’s Somali-Americans used to vaccinate their children more than other Minnesotans, but the rate fell between 2004 to 2014, from 92 per cent to 40 per cent. Officials have linked this to visits paid to the community by anti-vaccine activist Andrew Wakefield and other campaigners, whose influence still reverberates.

“The biggest impact is connecting a condition that is one that challenges any parent who has a child with autism, and connecting that to immunisations, and specifically MMR,” Lynn Bahta, the immunisation clinical consultant with the Minnesota Department of Health, told The Independent last summer as they fought to tackle the outbreak.

“Among our Somali-American community we have their rates go from 92 per cent, which was higher than non-Somali rates, down to 42 per cent. And that puts them in a very, very vulnerable position.”

To help the state get their message delivered most effectively, officials asked for help from community leaders, in particular imams, who lead prayers at neighbourhood mosques.

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