U.S. loses measles elimination status after 26 years

An independent commission of experts that reports to the director of the Pan American Health Organization determined that the United States no longer qualifies as having eliminated measles, a source close to the process told CNN on Friday, according to CTV News. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Measles had been considered eliminated as a continually transmitting illness in the United States since 2000.

The committee’s decision

The international committee that determines countries’ measles elimination status considers an infection to be endemic, or regularly occurring, if infections caused by the same strain are passed from person to person for at least a year within the same country. Committee members look at the genetic code of viruses sampled from patients to determine how closely infections may be related and whether they are likely to have been part of the same chains of transmission.

In August, scientists with Utah’s public health laboratory published a preprint study showing that the same strain of measles had been circulating in the state for more than a year, accounting for more than 95 per cent of cases there. It travelled from the southwest part of the state to central Utah, ultimately causing more than 600 cases between June 2025 and June 2026. There have also been sustained outbreaks in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New York, as well as other states.

U.S. cases and impact

More than 5,400 measles cases have been reported in the US this year – the highest number since 1991. Most are linked to the 43 new outbreaks this year, but more than 1,000 cases are linked to outbreaks that began last year. Nearly all of this year’s cases have been in people who had not received the MMR vaccine or whose vaccination status is unknown. People have been hospitalized in roughly one in 9 reported cases, according to the CDC, and at least 10 people have died after catching measles, according to state reports.

The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is so effective that two doses cut an exposed person’s chances of getting sick by 97 per cent compared with someone who is unvaccinated.

Minnesota outbreak

Minnesota has confirmed 160 measles cases so far this year, the highest in almost three decades, according to the Star Tribune. The total is driven by a Todd County cluster that has reached 136 cases, largely or entirely among Amish families that have rejected measles vaccinations on religious and cultural grounds. Among children born in Minnesota in 2023, only 81% have received the first dose of measles vaccine by age 2. In Todd County, that rate is 62%.

The Pan American Health Organization is considering whether to change the status of measles in the U.S. from eliminated to endemic, meaning it could be a consistent threat once again. The 5,412 confirmed measles cases in the U.S. so far this year include 591 hospitalizations and at least six deaths, according to the Star Tribune.

Why it matters

Losing elimination status means the United States is less prepared as a nation to address infectious and noninfectious disease challenges, said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Regaining elimination status will not be trivial, given diminished public trust in vaccines, increasing nonmedical exemptions in schools, and declines in MMR vaccination among kindergarten students, according to Dr. William Moss, a professor and measles expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

---

Sources

• ctvnews.ca: After 26 years, the U.S. has lost its measles elimination status
• startribune.com: Minnesota doctors shocked by severe measles in Amish country

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.