Measles Cases Are at a Three-Decade High, and the US Could Soon Lose Its Elimination Status

With over 5,000 confirmed cases, more than twice last year’s total, health officials are revisiting the country's elimination status, pending a decision next week. Here’s what the numbers show and what it could mean.

The significant rise of measles cases in the United States this year has led global experts to deliberate on the country’s elimination status.

For more than 25 years, the U.S. has held the status, but an astounding surge of measles cases this year has Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) experts evaluating whether the U.S. has lost the status it has kept since 2000. The decision is expected next week, according to CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz.

A mother checking on her sick child in bed | Source: Pexels

As of November 5, the CDC has recorded 5,182 cases of measles in 2026, which is more than double the 2,289 reported in 2025. In 2024, there were only 285.

This year’s cases cover 45 states and Washington, D.C., and 11% of them needed hospitalization, including 17% of children under 5 who got sick.

While the CDC has confirmed four deaths from measles in 2026, a number it noted was still subject to change, state health officials reported eight deaths this year, including six in Pennsylvania, one in New York, and one in Wisconsin.

Three of the fatalities were only announced last week. One of them was a child in upstate New York, marking the first measles-linked death in the state in more than 30 years. Another child, an infant in Wisconsin, is also the state’s first case of death from measles since 1990.

According to the CDC, most cases contributing to this year’s surge belong to unvaccinated people or those with unknown vaccination status, accounting for about 96% this year. Close to all the cases are also related to outbreaks.

In recent years, MMR vaccination rates have seen a dip. In the school year 2025-26, 92.4% of kindergartners had MMR coverage, nearly three points lower than school year 2019-2020, recording 95.2%. This means an estimated 280,000 kindergartners are at risk of contracting measles. The CDC says that when more than 95% of a community is vaccinated, most people are protected

Should the U.S. lose its elimination status, Schwartz told Reuters that the agency’s approach to measles won’t change. “We’re going to be doing the same exact thing that we’ve been doing today, which is working with the states,” she said, adding that the CDC will continue to push for the vaccination, emphasizing it is the best way to prevent acquiring the disease. Schwartz believes one of the factors contributing to the spread of measles is close-knit communities with lower vaccination rates.

In August, President Donald Trump and Kennedy announced an executive order calling for the MMR vaccine to be split into three separate shots, which could still take years to develop, according to pharmaceutical companies.

Despite the ongoing debate, the CDC still stands by the safety and effectiveness of the MMR vaccine (CDC), recommending two doses for children, at 12 to 15 months and 4 to 6 years old. A single dose is about 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective.