It’s never a good sign when measles is in the news. The current US outbreak is continuing to grow in several states, leading to the most CDC-confirmed cases — 1,753 — the country has seen in 33 years.
An outbreak in Texas that began in January was declared over in August, but experts say the strain developed in that community is the one that’s still spreading now, per the New York Times. An outbreak in Utah and Arizona is currently the largest in the country, with more than 180 cases.
But the Southwest isn’t the only region affected. Last month’s outbreak in South Carolina, tied to two schools, led to students being quarantined after exposure to the virus. Recent cases have also been confirmed in New York.
In total, the CDC reports that there have been 45 measles outbreaks in 41 states in 2025, up from just 16 outbreaks last year, and that 92 percent of cases occurred in unvaccinated people. Children up to age 19 represent 66 percent of cases, which is especially concerning because measles are the most dangerous for children under 5. One out of every 3 children in this age range will end up in the hospital if they catch measles, per the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Measles is a highly contagious but very preventable disease. In fact, after the introduction of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, the number of annual cases dropped in the United States from 3 to 4 million in 1963 to something so negligible the disease was declared eradicated in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vaccine is highly effective, providing lifelong protection for measles for about 97 percent of people who get two doses, according to Mayo Clinic. And yet, as anti-vaccine rhetoric has spread over the past several years, vaccination rates have declined down to 92.5 percent nationwide in 2025. According to the CDC, a vaccination rate of 95 percent is needed to protect a community against outbreaks.
While the trend predates the current Trump administration, experts say that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. isn’t helping things. Kennedy has been criticizing vaccines for years, and even before he took office, doctors were warning parents to schedule their children’s vaccines ASAP. While Kennedy endorsed the MMR vaccine in April, he once chaired an anti-vaccine nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, and previously denied that the measles vaccine led to a decrease in deaths.
But as fewer parents choose to get their children vaccinated, communities are losing the type of herd immunity that provides protection from this disease, and it’s children that are most likely to have severe — and sometimes deadly — cases as a result. The symptoms of measles generally appear about seven to 14 days after a person is infected and include red eyes, a cough, runny nose, a high fever and a red rash that spreads all over the body. While the severity of each case will vary, 1 out of every 4 individuals diagnosed with measles will need to be hospitalized — and two to three cases (per 1,000) will result in death.
The MMR vaccine remains the best way to protect yourself and your children from that outcome. And even if you are vaccinated, it’s worth reviewing the signs of the disease, which include red eyes, a cough, runny nose, high fever, and a red rash that spreads all over the body. Symptoms of measles generally appear about seven to 14 days after a person is infected.
If the US experiences sustained measles transmission for 12 months, it will lose its elimination status, as determined by the World Health Organization — something the country has held for 25 years. For the US, that deadline hits at the end of January; Canada lost its elimination status earlier this month.
The continuing outbreaks continue to underscore a fact we’ve known for a long time: childhood vaccinations are crucial. It’s much easier to prevent a disease than to treat it after it occurs, and while the MMR vaccine isn’t 100 percent effective, vaccinated people typically experience milder symptoms is they do contract the disease. So if you have a school-age child, be sure to get them vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis), polio, measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox (varicella). Because the truth is in the science: Vaccinations save lives.
An previous version of this post was published in 2018.
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