United States Has Recorded Its Highest Number of Measles Cases in More Than Three Decades in 2026, With Outbreaks Spreading Across Multiple

By mid-July, the case count had already surpassed the total for all of 2025, which was the worst year in recent history with more than 2,200 confirmed infections. The ongoing outbreaks have put the U.S. at risk of losing its official measles elimination status, which it has held since 2000. Measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases and can, in some cases, cause severe lung and brain infections leading to cognitive issues, deafness or death. Vaccination, which medical research has proven safe and highly effective, can prevent the disease.

Of the 2,289 confirmed cases last year, more than 750 were connected to an outbreak in West Texas that led to the deaths of two children. Prior to 2025, the highest number of confirmed cases in recent years was 1,274 in 2019, driven by outbreaks in New York, California and Washington state. Most years the total was much lower.

Health experts point to lower vaccination rates as the main reason for increases in preventable infectious diseases like measles. The vast majority of cases have been among unvaccinated people, and outbreaks have spread in communities with lower vaccination rates. CDC data shows about 92.5% of kindergartners were vaccinated against measles during the 2024–2025 school year, down from 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year — a critical threshold for community protection.

Only 10 states hit the 95% threshold last year. "When more than 95% of people in a community are vaccinated, most people are protected through community immunity (herd immunity), the CDC states. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan": "I think that parents, for most kids, especially for the measles vaccines, the DTP, all the standard childhood vaccines, it's very important that parents vaccinate their kids. Research has found no evidence of increased autism rates among vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated people.