The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday that the United States has logged 2,318 measles cases in the first seven months of this year, surpassing last year’s total of 2,289.Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.It’s the largest number of measles cases the U.S.
has seen in 35 years, and comes amid a decadeslong slide in childhood vaccination rates.The majority of infected people — 93%, according to the CDC — are unvaccinated.“We have joined the rank of countries where vaccination is not reaching the levels needed to protect all of our children against some of the most contagious diseases,” said Dr.
Richard Besser, a pediatrician and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.When vaccine levels dip, measles is usually the first vaccine-preventable disease to rise because it’s by far the most contagious.
“Measles is the canary in the coal mine.What it’s saying is that our communities are vulnerable, not just from measles, but from whooping cough, meningitis, chicken pox and other diseases that are readily controllable with vaccines,” Besser said.
“We’re on a crash course.”The wave has been building since January 2025.That month, Dr.
Richard Eby, a family medicine doctor, was working a weekend shift at Permian Regional Medical Center in Andrews, Texas, about two hours south of Lubbock, when he saw his first measles case.The child needed to be admitted for dehydration and shortness of breath.
Eby knew there’d be more.The child’s mother told him that classes at their small, private school had been canceled two days prior because so many kids were sick with measles.
“I knew at that point that the official case count was only capturing a fraction of what was already spreading in the community,” he said.“Most people did not get tested unless they were very sick.”It was already too late to stop the outbreak, which grew to 762 cases and the fir...