US measles outbreak the worst in 35 years - official data

WASHINGTON — The United States is in the midst of its worst measles outbreak in 35 years, according to official figures released Friday, amid a serious uptick in cases as vaccine hesitancy grows. Since 2026 began, 2,318 confirmed cases of the highly contagious illness have been recorded, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That surpasses the total for 2025, a year that had already shattered records, with 2,289 cases and three deaths including two young children. The last time the United States experienced such a high number of measles cases was in 1991, when 9,643 cases were recorded. In 2000, measles was declared eradicated in the United States, thanks to vaccination. But it has made a strong comeback in recent years against a backdrop of declining vaccination rates and growing distrust in health authorities. US President Donald Trump's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, is accused of contributing significantly to the crisis by spreading anti-vaccine sentiment and fueling fears of well-studied and proven immunizations. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, these non-medical vaccine exemptions have surged, alongside the explosion in vaccine misinformation and distrust of health authorities. "We are witnessing an avoidable crisis that disproportionally hurts children," said Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "We should not accept this as our new normal." "Measles is the first one that you tend to see these large outbreaks, because it is the most easily contagious and easily spreadable," said Melissa Nolan, a professor of epidemiology at the University of South Carolina. "I think we're going to start seeing more and more pertussis cases and just a variety of other vaccine preventable diseases, unfortunately." "I definitely believe that there is underdiagnosis," Nolan added.