U.S. Measles Cases Climb to 33-Year High
Category: Health, Science & Technology
Via: hallux • last year • 18 commentsBy: Jennifer Calfas - WSJ
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Measles cases in the U.S. have hit a three-decade high, reaching the highest yearly total since 1992 in only seven months, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least 1,288 measles cases have been reported across the U.S. just over halfway through the year, surpassing the 1,274 cases reported in 2019, when outbreaks in New York pushed the national case count to its highest level in decades at the time.
More than 90% of those infected with measles so far this year were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccine status, according to the CDC. Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine are 97% effective at preventing measles.
The climbing case count is fueled largely by an outbreak that began in West Texas and spread to other states. The vaccine-preventable disease in 2025 has hospitalized hundreds and resulted in the first U.S. measles-related deaths in a decade.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has faced scrutiny from doctors and epidemiologists for his approach to vaccines. In June, Kennedy dismissed all previous members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. His new panel of advisers said last month they would re-evaluate the recommended schedules for measles and hepatitis B vaccines for children and teenagers.
Amid the Texas measles outbreak, Kennedy has touted unproven treatments that infectious disease specialists say distract from the importance of vaccination. He said in a post on X in April that the MMR vaccine is the best way to prevent the spread of measles.
Children are required to receive these shots to enter schools nationwide—but dozens of states allow nonmedical exemptions that allow families to opt their children out of vaccines. The rate of children with these exemptions for one or more vaccines has climbed over the last 15 years, according to CDC data.
At least 95% of people in a community need to be vaccinated against measles to prevent further outbreaks, according to the CDC. But 92.7% of kindergartners were vaccinated for the 2023-24 school year on average nationwide—with far lower percentages in some states and cities.
More than two dozen outbreaks, which are made up of three or more related cases, have sprung up across the country this year, and measles cases have been reported in 39 states, according to the CDC.
There have been more than 750 measles cases reported in Texas in 2025 and dozens more in neighboring New Mexico and Kansas. This month, Kentucky leaders announced an outbreak and Wyoming officials reported the state’s first measles case in 15 years.
The country declared measles eliminated 25 years ago after widespread vaccination efforts inoculated most of children with the highly effective MMR vaccine. But declining vaccination rates in recent years have left pockets of the population vulnerable to catching this highly contagious disease.
Some public health leaders and epidemiologists said they believe the outbreak might endanger the U.S.’s measles-elimination status —an indictment, they said, of a weakening front against the infectious disease.
“We’re in trouble,” said Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah Health. “Functionally, we may have sustained transmission in the U.S. for quite a while.”
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Not to worry folks, RFKjr, the CHD, and the anti-vax minions of MAHA are here to save the day.
Yep! Just tank up on Vitamin K! or was it A?
Homeopaths and sociopaths are siblings of another father.
I don't dismiss homeopathic treatments completely. Some are quite effective if you know what to look for and how to deliver it to your system. But I don't think I will ever go completely off the rails and rely on home remedies anytime soon
I do, when the law of dilutions was pointed out to practitioners they claimed water has memory.
water has memory? new one on me and I work in the water industry
I did my best to cure a lot of hormone induced acne victims back in high school ...
Sounds like you were injecting semen into the wrong orifices.
maga!
The climbing case count is fueled largely by an outbreak that began in West Texas and spread to other states. The vaccine-preventable disease in 2025 has hospitalized hundreds and resulted in the first U.S. measles-related deaths in a decade.
Actually, ii was probably all the unvaxxed kids and adults jumping the border during the Biden administration that brought the measles and other bad things back into the US. The majority of antivaxxer's tend to be educated liberals fearing autism
That's the yarn ... @!@
Did you mean to type "yawn"?
[deleted][✘]
let's see your proof ...
That's a bunch of fucking nonsense what he just said. Remember Lisa from NC who was virulently ant-vaxx? She was no liberal
Most of the anti-vaxxers I know are also anti abortion.
Hey I just won't get my baby vaccinated, it will die, and see I didn't need no damn abortion
of course it's nonsense and he can't back it up. I got thrown out of a potential clients house once for ridiculing an anti-vaxer, before covid. there's only one type of injection thumpers can't resist ...
According to Google AI, these are the demographics of anti vaxxers:
TY Perrie.