US Measles Cases Reach 35-Year High Amid Vaccination Drop
The United States has recorded a sharp rise in measles infections this year. As of Friday, 2,318 cases have been confirmed. This is the highest number of annual cases in 35 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared these figures.
These numbers surpass the total infections reported for all of 2025. This current year’s figure is the highest since a major outbreak between 1989 and 1991. That period saw over 55,000 infections.
William Moss is an epidemiology professor. He works at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He said reaching this milestone in July is very serious. Measles cases are still being reported across the country.
Most of the infected people are young. Children and teenagers up to age 19 make up 69 percent of cases. Children under five years old account for one-fifth of those infected this year. One in ten children under five who got sick needed hospital care. Three percent of those aged five to 19 were also hospitalized. So far, 151 people have been hospitalized this year for measles.
Measles can be very dangerous. However, no deaths have been reported from the disease since January 2026. In 2025, there were 2,289 infections. That year, 243 people were hospitalized and three died.
A vaccine can prevent measles. It is often given to children for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). After two doses, the vaccine is 97 percent effective.
The increase in measles cases comes with a drop in MMR vaccination rates. This decline began after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, vaccination coverage for kindergarten children fell to 92.5 percent. This is below the 95 percent needed for “herd immunity.” Herd immunity helps stop the virus from spreading.
Some health officials blame US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They say his anti-vaccine policies have lowered trust in immunizations. Mr. Kennedy has said measles vaccines are linked to autism. Scientists have shown this claim is false.
Andrew Racine is president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He said federal leaders have downplayed measles as harmless. They have also spread wrong information about the MMR vaccine. He called the situation an “avoidable crisis.”
This year, 93 percent of measles cases were in unvaccinated people. The CDC reported infections in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Most cases are linked to 35 new outbreaks in 2026.
South Carolina had one outbreak that started in October 2025. It sickened nearly 1,000 people over six months. This was the largest single outbreak since measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000. The status of measles elimination in the US is now under review.
