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I’m here to bring you the latest on the measles outbreak in the U.S.
The nation declared measles eliminated 25 years ago, meaning there was no continuous transmission of the disease for more than a year thanks to a highly effective vaccine for it. But now, one of the worst outbreaks since then is centered in West Texas, with cases reaching into New Mexico and now Oklahoma.
Here’s where those cases are:
There have been 259 confirmed cases of measles in the West Texas outbreak so far, and at least one unvaccinated child has died, according to the state’s health department. Most cases – 201 – have been in kids and teenagers.
New Mexico has the second-highest number of cases at 35, and the outbreak has resulted in the death of an unvaccinated adult, the state said.
There are so far four reported cases in Oklahoma, according to the state’s health department.
There have been a few isolated cases reported in more than a dozen other states, which don’t appear to be related to the Texas outbreak.
The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. this year already surpasses the 285 reported nationwide in all of 2024, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. Still, the CDC says the nationwide risk of measles remains low and that vaccination is the key to prevention.
But the problem is immunization rates for the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine – called MMR – have been declining in nearly every U.S. state since the Covid pandemic.
Health policy and public health experts have told CNBC that the lower uptake of that shot and other routine childhood vaccinations could be due to several factors. That includes greater vaccine hesitancy due to misinformation and controversy around the Covid vaccine and more distrust of public health officials and their requirements, among other issues.
In all four full school years since the pandemic began, the MMR vaccination rate has fallen below the “Healthy People 2030” target rate of 95%, according to CDC data. That refers to the level needed to prevent community transmission of measles, a highly contagious and deadly virus.
Roughly 280,000 school children were unvaccinated and unprotected against measles during the 2023-2024 school year alone, the CDC said.
Clusters of unvaccinated people within a specific community increase the risk of disease outbreak, health experts have told CNBC. For example, the childhood vaccination rate for measles in Gaines County, the epicenter of the current outbreak in Texas, is just below 82%.
