The United States has lost the measles elimination status it held since 2000, The Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 13, citing people familiar with the matter. A public health milestone built through immunization campaigns has come undone. Source
CNN subsequently reported that an independent expert commission had determined the country no longer qualified, citing a source close to the process. The commission reports to the director of the Pan American Health Organization. PAHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were not immediately available for comment after business hours Nov. 13, according to a Bloomberg report published by The Straits Times. Source Source
Axios reported 5,412 confirmed measles cases so far in 2026, citing CDC figures. That's more than double the 2,289 recorded in all of 2025 and the highest tally since 1991. Source
Elimination never meant zero cases
The designation did not mean measles had disappeared worldwide or that the U.S. would never see another infection. Imported infections continued to cause outbreaks after 2000, but high vaccination rates usually kept them small and short-lived, CNN reports. Source
The committee's threshold is person-to-person transmission of the same measles strain within a country for at least a year. Scientists examine genetic sequences from patients' viruses to help establish those transmission links. Source
CNN reports that an August preprint from Utah public-health laboratory scientists found the same strain circulating in the state for more than a year. It remains unclear what evidence the commission relied on. Source
The risks and the path back
Nearly all of this year's cases involved people who had not received the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine or whose vaccination status was unknown, according to CNN. CNN also reported hospitalization in roughly one in nine reported cases this year, citing the CDC. Source
Two MMR doses reduce the risk of developing measles after exposure by 97% compared with being unvaccinated, CNN reports. Sustained outbreaks also increase the danger for people too young to be vaccinated and those with weakened immune systems. The consequences extend beyond the people who decline a shot. Source
Public health experts cited by Axios identify vaccine skepticism, distrust amplified by federal officials including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and funding cuts for outbreak response as contributors to the resurgence. Source
Countries can regain the designation by demonstrating that continuous transmission has stopped and that disease surveillance has been strengthened, Bloomberg reports. Source
Comments