As Measles Cases Surge, U.S. Risks Losing Its Elimination Status This Week
Last week alone, three states reported measles-related deaths, including an infant in Wisconsin.
Measles has made headlines time and time again over the past two years, as cases have hit record highs and vaccination rates reach record lows. Now, the looming threat may soon come true: if measles continues to spread at its current rate, the U.S. may lose its measles elimination status as soon as this week. The nation reached 5,182 confirmed measles cases in 2026 last week, the most to be reported in the United States in 35 years. Last week alone, three states reported measles-related deaths, including an infant in Wisconsin.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will meet this week to decide whether the U.S. still meets the criteria for measles elimination, according to Reuters. Measles was considered officially eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, meaning there had been no large outbreaks or uncontrolled domestic transmission of the virus for at least 12 months prior.
America’s elimination status is in jeopardy now after the current measles outbreaks first began in January 2025 in West Texas. By January 2026, the spread continued unchecked. A meeting to discuss the country’s measles elimination status was originally scheduled for April 2026, KFF reports, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked for more time to determine whether measles cases were being transmitted domestically or “imported” (for example, if someone contracted measles abroad and then brought it to the U.S.).
Many issues have contributed to the country’s ongoing measles outbreaks, from sweeping funding and staffing cuts to public health agencies to a lack of leadership — there was no Senate-confirmed director of the CDC for an entire year during this measles outbreak. But the main driver is declining vaccination rates, which experts blame on the Trump administration, specifically HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, as Scary Mommy previously reported.
The CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend children get their first measles vaccine dose between 12 and 15 months of age, and the second dose between 4 and 6 years of age before starting school. According to CDC data, 96% of measles cases in 2026 have occurred in unvaccinated individuals. A KFF poll found that roughly one in five adults believe getting the measles vaccine is more dangerous than becoming infected with the measles. Parents are commonly exposed to vaccine misinformation, and data shows it is affecting their health decisions: the number of kindergarteners with vaccine exemptions rose to 4.2% in the 2025-2026 school year, the highest in the country’s history, with 39 states falling below the 95% vaccinated threshold needed to prevent outbreaks.
“There’s no question. The falling vaccination rates have led to these outbreaks. Since before the pandemic, more than half the U.S. counties that track measles coverage have fallen below that magic threshold of 95% needed to prevent outbreaks. Now we’re on the cusp of losing measles elimination, which would be a huge embarrassment to public health in this country,” medical reporter Hallie Jackson said on-air for NBC.
The largest outbreak in the U.S. since it earned measles elimination status, prior to the current one, was in 2018-2019. It was curtailed through a strong federal and state-level public health response, including closing schools where transmission occurred, prohibiting unvaccinated children from attending school, and fining parents for not vaccinating their children, KFF reports. The CDC also declared a public health emergency and made “clear statements about the importance of measles vaccinations.”
With the Trump administration pushing parental choice and shared clinical decision-making for childhood vaccines, only time will tell if this sort of public health response is possible in 2026.
