US measles cases reach highest level in 35 years as 2026 tally already exceeds 2025 total

Record caseload surpasses 2025 total

By July 25, the US had recorded 2,318 measles cases, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Johns Hopkins University. That already exceeds the 2,289 infections documented in all of 2025, which itself had been the highest annual figure in decades. The current count is the largest since the 1989–1991 period, when over 55,000 cases and 123 deaths were registered.

That we have reached this milestone is particularly egregious since we are only in July and measles cases continue to be reported nationwide.

Vaccination rates decline, young hit hardest

Sixty-nine percent of those infected are children and adolescents under 19, and one-fifth are younger than five. Among toddlers, 10 percent required hospitalisation, while the rate for older children was three percent. A total of 151 hospital admissions have been logged this year. Ninety-three percent of all cases occurred in unvaccinated individuals; the remainder had received one or two doses of the MMR vaccine, which offers 97 percent protection after the second shot.

Experts attribute the surge to slipping immunisation coverage. Average kindergarten vaccination for measles fell to 92.5 percent last year, below the 95 percent threshold needed for herd immunity. In 16 states the rate has dropped under 90 percent.

Elimination status at risk

Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, after which only sporadic outbreaks occurred. The past year and a half has now produced more cases than the preceding 25 years combined. Canada saw its elimination status revoked last autumn by the Pan American Health Organization after similar large outbreaks, and US authorities warn that the same fate could befall the country.

Kennedy under fire

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appointed by President Donald Trump, has drawn sharp criticism for repeatedly questioning the safety and value of vaccines. Public health specialists link the current outbreak directly to the erosion of confidence in immunisation that such messaging fosters. No deaths have been recorded in 2026 to date, though three people died from measles in the United States last year.

States with the heaviest caseloads include South Carolina, Utah, Texas, Florida and Arizona. Sixteen infections originated from international visitors. Health officials continue to urge MMR vaccination as the only effective barrier, noting that the disease remains one of the most contagious known and can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis and death in severe instances.