The United States is currently experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 35 years amid declining vaccination rates.
As many as 2,318 confirmed cases of the contagious illness have been recorded since the beginning of 2026, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This figure surpasses the 2025 total of 2,289 cases and three deaths, including two young children.
The last time the US experienced such a high number of measles cases was in 1991, when 9,643 cases were recorded.
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Measles – symptoms and other
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the symptoms of measles, which is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, include a cough, runny nose, high fever, and rash all over the body. It also infects the respiratory tract.
It can cause severe complications and can even lead to death. Although the disease can infect anyone, it is most common in children.
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Vaccine skepticism and measles cases
Measles was declared eradicated in the US in 2000 because of vaccination. However, before the development of the measles vaccine in the early 1960s, the contagious disease killed hundreds of children annually in the US, and it reportedly continues to claim lives worldwide, according to a report by news agency AFP.
The virus has made a comeback in recent years, which has been linked by medical experts to declining immunization rates. A trend many attribute in part to vaccine skepticism espoused by President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, reported Reuters.
Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said, “Since early last year, federal leaders have dismissed measles as benign and unavoidable and have spread misleading information about the MMR vaccine,” reported Reuters.
Melissa Nolan, a professor of epidemiology at the University of South Carolina, said she believes that there is an “underdiagnosis.”
“When you think about the people who are choosing not to vaccinate their children, these are also the people that have medical hesitancy in general,” she told AFP.
Although the measles vaccine is mandatory in the US, people in much of the country can bypass the requirement by claiming religious or philosophical exemptions.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, these non-medical exemptions have surged alongside a rise in vaccine misinformation.
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What the data shows
A September 2025 poll by The Washington Post and the nonprofit KFF showed that one in six American parents avoid or delay vaccinating their children due to fears of side effects and a lack of trust in health authorities. The trend is particularly pronounced among white and conservative communities, and is a source of great concern for medical experts.