U.S. measles cases climb to highest level in 3 decades

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Halfway through 2025, the total annual measles cases in the U.S. have reached a level not seen in more than three decades.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,288 confirmed infections on Wednesday, the most since 1992 and surpassing the total for 2019, the last time the nation grappled with a measles surge. More than two-thirds of states have reported at least one case to the CDC, and there have been 27 outbreaks, defined as three or more related cases.

Three people have died from measles infections since the outbreak began in January, including two unvaccinated children in Texas. The vast majority of cases have been among unvaccinated people.

The Trump administration has pulled back on broad support of immunization to protect public health. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official, has incorrectly linked autism to the measles vaccine.

Last month, Kennedy removed all the members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and added vaccine critics. The revamped panel created a subcommittee to review the childhood and adult vaccination schedules, which include measles vaccines.

The sharp rise in measles this year has alarmed public health experts. In 2000, the U.S. declared measles formally eliminated after there was no continuous spread of the virus for 12 consecutive months. The current outbreak could upend this, according to the American Medical Association.

Measles is highly contagious, and a community needs to be at least 95% vaccinated to stop its spread. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is 97% effective in protecting against the virus after two doses.

The current high case count can be attributed to declining childhood vaccination rates. For the 2023-2024 school year, vaccination rates for kindergarteners fell below 93%, according to the CDC. In the 2019-2020 school year, the CDC reported 95% of kindergarteners were vaccinated.

In previous years, most U.S. measles cases were linked to travelers who were exposed to the virus abroad. In May, the CDC issued an advisory that all international travelers should to be fully vaccinated against measles before their trips.

If current vaccination trends continue, the U.S. could see more than 50 million measles cases in the next 25 years, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The 2019 measles outbreak centered around Orthodox Jewish communities in New York, which had been targeted by anti-vaccination groups with false claims that the shots cause autism and contained ingredients that violated kosher dietary laws.

The 2025 increase in measles cases was initially driven by an outbreak in West Texas among the area’s Mennonites, who often apply for religious exemptions to school vaccine mandates.

Texas reported no new measles cases Tuesday, with the state’s total to 753 since the outbreak began in January. The epicenter — Gaines County — is no longer designated as an outbreak county, according to the state’s dashboard. Infections started to decline after an uptick in vaccinations. Cases in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas have been linked to the Texas outbreak.

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