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Vaccine hesitancy concerns physicians amid Minnesota measles outbreak

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Vaccine hesitancy concerns physicians amid Minnesota measles outbreak


Minnesota’s measles outbreak has grown to 51 cases as of Thursday, and most infected are unvaccinated children in the Somali community living in Hennepin County, as confirmed by the state health department. Twelve people have been hospitalized.

This is what I was going to suggest: Across the board, people are challenging the need for all vaccines, not just the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The general vaccination rate is even lower in the Somali community, Dr. Michael Osterholm, head of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told MPR News.

“The challenge we have is that misinformation initially got shared in the Somali community … we had these individuals who preyed on, I believe, the susceptibility of these parents who had children with autism to believe that, in fact, they were caused by a measles vaccine, which is simply not true,” Osterholm said.

The majority of Minnesota’s measles cases this year affected people between the ages of one and 19. Children are at a higher risk of developing severe disease.

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“I think it’s really important to emphasize that measles, which is one of the most highly infectious diseases we know of — surely as infectious, if not more infectious than even COVID — and if you are unvaccinated or unprotected from having a previous infection, if this virus is in the community, it’ll eventually find you,” he continued.

After more than two decades of measles being declared eliminated by the Centers for Disease Control, such vaccine hesitancy has case counts ticking upward. In Minnesota, parents or guardians can opt their child out of getting vaccines required by schools with a notarized exemption, whether for medical reasons or personal beliefs.

This week, Minneapolis Public Schools notified parents of the outbreak reaching the district but didn’t name or quantify any schools or cases. Osterholm believes there will be a “substantial increase” in measles infections in the coming months because of slipping vaccination rates.

Vaccine hesitancy is spreading to pet owners as well.

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“We’re hearing from a number of our veterinary colleagues that for the first time in their practice, they’re seeing individuals refusing to vaccinate their dogs and their cats against rabies because they don’t want to, again, be told what to do,” Osterholm added.

Rabies vaccines help protect pets from spreading the infection amongst one another and from transmitting the virus to humans.

“This is a phenomenon that public health has to deal with,” Osterholm said. “We have to recognize we’re in a different age than when we were when I started in the business 50 years ago … we’ve come a long way from when parents in the 1950s and 60s couldn’t wait, couldn’t wait, to get their children vaccinated for polio. Today, it’s just the opposite.”

How to improve messaging around the importance of vaccination remains unclear, Osterholm said, though it’s quite apparent people don’t want mandatory, top-down orders.

Measles symptoms usually include a rash and a fever and appear eight to 12 days after exposure. The MMR vaccine has been in circulation for more than 50 years and is proven to be safe, MDH advises. Recommendations generally are for children to get two doses — the first between 12-15 months old and the second at 4-6 years of age. Minnesotans with questions about their immunization record can find information online from MDH.

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Minnesota investigators say child care centers captured in viral video were operating as expected

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Minnesota investigators say child care centers captured in viral video were operating as expected


A video by a right-wing content creator accusing several Somali-owned child care centers in Minnesota of fraud went viral and led to compliance checks by Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families. The agency says they were operating normally, except for one that was not yet open when investigators arrived.



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Game Recap: Kings 5, Wild 4 (S/O) | Minnesota Wild

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Game Recap: Kings 5, Wild 4 (S/O) | Minnesota Wild


Matt Boldy scored late in the third to tie it and ultimately send the game to overtime, helping the Wild (25-10-8) extend their point streak to six games (3-0-3). Brock Faber had a goal and an assist, Jake Middleton and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored, and Jesper Wallstedt made 34 saves.

It was the second game of a back-to-back for Minnesota, which is coming off a 5-2 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The Wild and Kings will play again in Los Angeles on Monday.

“It was far from perfect of a game from us,” Faber said. “I thought we could have played better. With that quick turnaround, we’ll take the point. Now we need two in the next.”

Kempe put the Kings up 1-0 at 6:08 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from close range off Anze Kopitar’s cross-slot pass from below the goal line.

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Middleton tied it up 1-1 at 8:28, getting his first goal of the season in 36 games on a snap shot from the left circle set up by Mats Zuccarello.

“I think he thought I was Kirill (Kaprizov) in the slot there, so it was nice to get one,” Middleton joked. “I normally have a few goals before I take 35 games off from scoring, so this one was getting a little stressful but we got it out of the way.”

Perry gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead at 16:57 of the second period when Byfield’s shot struck him in the wrist and redirected in for the power-play goal.

Eriksson Ek tied it 2-2 at 18:23 on the power play, taking Quinn Hughes’ stretch pass at the offensive blue line for a short breakaway, fending off defenseman Joel Edmundson and scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle.

Byfield put Los Angeles back in front 3-2 at 4:54 of the third period. He shot the puck caroming off the boards back into the crease, where Wallstedt lost it in his skates and it was eventually knocked in by a Wild stick during the ensuing scramble in front.

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“Shouldn’t be, that was terrible,” Byfield joked when asked if he knew it was his goal. “No, it’s good. I think it’s two now that were liked that, so I’ll take them how they come.”



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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the defensive as fraud allegations mount after viral video uncovered Somali aid scheme

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the defensive as fraud allegations mount after viral video uncovered Somali aid scheme


Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back against the ever-growing fraud allegations levied against him in the disastrous aftermath of a viral video where an independent journalist cracked open a crucial part of the alleged Somali aid scheme.

A spokesperson for Walz, a Democrat who frequently provokes President Trump’s ire, addressed a bombshell video posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley.

“The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action. He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed,” the spokesperson told Fox News.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz listens during a hearing with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at the US Capitol on June 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. Getty Images

The spokesperson added that Walz has “hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”

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In the 43-minute video published on Friday, Shirley and a Minnesotan named David travel around Minneapolis and visit multiple childcare and learning centers allegedly owned by Somali immigrants.

Many were either shuttered entirely, despite signage indicating they were open, or helmed by staff who refused to participate in the video.

YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a mega-viral video on Friday uncovering new parts of the alleged Somali aid scheme. X / Nick Shirley

One of the buildings they visited displayed a misspelled sign reading “Quality Learing Center.” The ‘learning’ center is supposed to account for at least 99 children and funneled roughly $4 million in state funds, according to the video.

Shirley appeared on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show” on Sunday evening and boasted about his findings. He joked that the alleged scheme was “so obvious” that a “kindergartener could figure out there is fraud going on.”

“Fraud is fraud, and we work too hard simply just to be paying taxes and enabling fraud to be happening,” Shirley said.

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Shirley was kicked out for trespassing in one of the centers. X / Nick Shirley
Shirley joked that the alleged scheme was “so obvious” that a “kindergartener could figure out there is fraud going on. X / Nick Shirley

“There better be change. People are demanding it. The investigation have been launched just from that video alone. So there better be change, like I said we work way too hard to be paying taxes and not knowing where our money’s going,” he added.

Many officials have echoed Shirley’s calls for change, with FBI Director Kash Patel even announcing that the agency surged extra personnel to investigate the resources doled out to Minnesota. He said this is one of the first steps in a wide-reaching effort to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency was fielding additional personnel to investigate fraud in Minnesota. FNTV

Federal investigators say half of the $18 billion granted to Minnesota since 2018 could have been stolen by fraudulent schemes — amounting to up to $9 billion in theft.

As of Saturday evening, 86 people have been charged in relation to these fraud scams, with 59 convicted so far.

Most of those accused of fraud come from Minnesota’s Somali community.

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Shirley’s mega-viral video cracked 100 million views Sunday night.



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