While measles infections occur every year and remain rare, the number of confirmed cases of the disease has been growing faster than at any time since 2019.
“This has been a fairly explosive measles outbreak,” said Dr. William Moss, professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
As of March 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 301 measles cases this year, surpassing the total for all of 2024.
Most of the infections, 279, have occurred in Texas.
“Where this becomes a problem is when you have groups of people, communities, with a lot of unvaccinated individuals,” Moss said.
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Almost everyone who has contracted measles has been unvaccinated, including a child who died.
More parents are declining to immunize their kindergarten-age children against the virus that has been classified as eradicated since 2000. The CDC says an increasing number of states are failing to reach the 95% rate of vaccination needed to protect entire communities from the highly contagious disease.
In 2019, 28 states fell short of the 95% target. That number has since jumped to 38 states and Washington, D.C., and places with an even lower rate of measles immunization, less than 90%, ballooned from three states to 14 in the same period.
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“We are more likely to have more frequent and larger measles outbreaks because that vaccination coverage is kind of below that herd immunity threshold,” Moss said.
Misinformation and skepticism about the safety and effectiveness of all vaccines have spread since the pandemic, stoked in part by President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services.
Truth be told, while alternative remedies like Vitamin A may help treat measles, the overwhelming evidence, including from the CDC and World Health Organization, has been conclusive. The measles vaccine remains the best and safest way to prevent getting sick or dying from the disease.
Those who receive two doses of the vaccine as a child are considered protected for life, with no need for a booster shot.
