Growing Measles Outbreak Centered in South Carolina Threatens Measles-Free Status of United States for First Time in Decades

The entire North American continent is in jeopardy of losing its status of being measles-free due to widespread outbreaks of the potentially deadly, but long dormant, disease.The Pan American Health Organization will soon review recent measles outbreaks in the United States and Mexico and decide on whether they can still consider the countries measles-free.Canada lost its measles-free status in November after 12 months of prolonged transmission across several provinces. America has been designated measles-free since 2000 and Mexico since 2016.A meeting is set up for April 13 for health authorities to prepare comprehensive reports about prevalence of the disease.Tuesday marked the one year anniversary of the most recent measles outbreak in America. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there were 2,242 confirmed measles cases reported in America last year, an outbreak that has continued into 2026.The CDC says there were 171 new cases in January, with most of them centered in South Carolina. South Carolina officials reported Tuesday that there were 88 new cases since Friday and 538 patients remain in quarantine.The South Carolina Department of Public Health says many of the cases have been traced to elementary schools, but 50 students at Anderson University and 34 at Clemson University are also under quarantine for measles.Three deaths in America are blamed on last year’s outbreaks and more than 90 percent of cases are among patients who are unvaccinated.Measles outbreaks can spread rapidly among unvaccinated populations. International health officials say the risk underscores the importance of maintaining high vaccination coverage. They say that when more than 95 percent of people in a community are vaccinated, most people are protected through herd immunity.In America, however, there has been growing vaccine hesitancy since the Covid pandemic. The levels of children given the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine has dropped in the years since. Researchers published a paper last week that estimated the overall national vaccination rate is down to 64 percent from 91 percent in 2017.“These granular estimates reveal substantial gaps in coverage, highlighting the critical role of local variation in vaccine-induced immunity in shaping measles vulnerability,” the researchers wrote. In September, a CDC panel voted to remove its recommendation for the combined MMR vaccine for young children, but the separate vaccines will still be recommended for this group.President Trump’s Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., opposes some vaccines and once claimed that MMR shots led to a spike in autism cases. Last year, however, he instructed the CDC to supply needed MMR vaccines to Texas during a measles outbreak there.

Growing Measles Outbreak Centered in South Carolina Threatens Measles-Free Status of United States for First Time in Decades

Growing Measles Outbreak Centered in South Carolina Threatens Measles-Free Status of United States for First Time in Decades

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