America defeated measles in 2000. Vaccine opposition brought it roaring back.

This is Part 1 of The Vaccine Divide, an updated data investigation into America potentially losing its measles-free status as the deadly virus roars back and childhood vaccine defenses continue to crack and crumble.When Dr.

Jeffrey Koplan took over as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1998, he and his colleagues pledged to stop the spread of measles in the United States within four years.They did it in two.

“We had a great vaccine,” said Koplan, now vice president for global health at Emory University.“Everyone was on board.” He attributed the success to widespread, bipartisan support from national public health groups, including the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, as well as pediatricians and state health departments.The virus receded, with only about 100 confirmed cases in the entire country that year.

By 2000, a scourge of childhood was officially eliminated in the U.S.Now, it has roared back.

There have been 43 new outbreaks this year, with more than 5,000 confirmed cases, according to the CDC.Eight people, including four babies too young to be vaccinated, have died.

More than a year after an NBC News/Stanford University data investigation first revealed an alarming drop in childhood vaccination rates, an updated analysis finds cracks in the nation’s once-robust measles defense have widened into a chasm, particularly in the country’s most vulnerable areas.Three-quarters of U.S.

counties with recent data on kindergarten immunization rates are now below the recommended threshold for community measles protection, with more than half of counties dropping from the 2024-25 to 2025-26 school years.This week, an independent commission of the Pan American Health Organization, a group within the World Health Organization, is meeting in Washington to consider whether the U.S.

has lost its measles elimination status.The group of eight includes epidemiologists, infectious disease and vaccine experts from countries in t...