Measles Cases in US Climb to Highest Number in 33 Years: CDC

The number of confirmed cases in 2025 is the highest in one year since 1992.

A person walks past a sign at a health center where the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine is administered, in Lubbock, Texas, on Feb. 27, 2025. Ronald Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images

Confirmed measles cases in the United States have hit the highest number since 1992, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the United States, so far in 2025, 1,288 cases have been recorded as of July 8, the CDC said in an update on Wednesday.

That’s the highest number in one year since 1992, when 2,126 cases were logged.

Spokespersons for the CDC and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in emails to The Epoch Times that HHS “continues to support community efforts in dealing with the measles outbreaks” while the CDC “continues to provide technical assistance, laboratory support, and vaccines as requested.”

Officials say they’ve sent nearly 12,000 mumps, measles, rubella (MMR) vaccine doses to states since cases began appearing in January.

Measles was marked as eliminated from the United States in 2000. That designation means measles was not spreading within the country and that new cases only cropped up when individuals contracted measles in other countries and returned to the United States.

The United States is likely on the way to losing the elimination status, Dr. Monica Gandhi, professor of medicine at the University of California–San Francisco, wrote on social media platform X.

The previous annual peak of case numbers since the elimination was in 2019, when 1,274 cases were confirmed.

That number was primarily driven by an outbreak that occurred in New York.

Cases this year have been recorded in 38 states. More than half of the cases happened in Texas, where an outbreak broke out and spread among Mennonite communities, according to health officials. The source of the outbreak has not been identified.

Of the Texas patients, 5 percent had received at least one dose of the MMR vaccine. Nationwide, 8 percent of patients have a confirmed vaccination history.

The remaining patients are either unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status.

Three patients have died in the United States in 2025. None of them had received a vaccine.

Measles has also been spreading in other countries. Canada, which has a much smaller population, said this week that nearly 3,400 measles cases have been confirmed there this year.

“The risk of measles infection is low for the overall U.S. population, with a case rate of less than 0.4 per 100,000 people—lower than peer developed countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Italy,” the CDC and HHS spokespersons said.

“Measles risk is higher in U.S. communities with low vaccination rates in areas with active measles outbreaks or with close social and/or geographic linkages to areas with active measles outbreaks. CDC continues to recommend MMR vaccines as the best way to protect against measles. The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. People should consult with their healthcare provider to understand their options to get inoculated and should be informed about the potential risks and benefits associated with vaccines.”

The Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease, a nonprofit whose advisory board members include pharmaceutical company officials, said in a statement that the measles case count “represents an alarming low in today’s fight against vaccine-preventable disease” and called on health leaders and lawmakers “to encourage people to protect themselves and others through vaccination.”

The CDC on its website recommends two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine for all children beginning at 12 months of age. The vaccine is required for school attendance in every state.

Coverage with many childhood vaccines has decreased in recent years. For the MMR vaccine, coverage among kindergartners dropped from 95.2 percent during the school year that started in 2019 to 92.7 percent during the school year that began in 2023. Coverage is even lower in the counties with the most cases in Texas.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of HHS, has said that people should get a measles vaccine. He has also noted the vaccine has side effects and said that its protection wanes “very quickly.” Some studies have found a waning of MMR vaccine protection or antibodies among some recipients, including a 2007 paper from the United States and a 2023 paper.

The CDC estimates that one dose of the vaccine is 94 percent effective against measles and that two doses bring the effectiveness to 97 percent. The estimates are drawn from a 2013 paper analyzing studies that were performed more than a decade ago, a CDC spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

The immunity provided by the vaccine is “long-term and probably lifelong in most persons,” the agency states on its website. “Some studies indicate that waning immunity may occur after successful vaccination, but this appears to occur rarely and to play only a minor role in measles transmission and outbreaks.”

It also says that approximately 2 to 7 percent of children who receive one dose of the MMR vaccine, and less than 1 percent of kids who receive two doses, do not develop antibodies against measles.

“The secretary has been very clear, it’s his priority to stop the measles outbreak,” Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the CDC, told senators during her recent confirmation hearing. “He has been very clear that the MMR vaccine is a critical component to stopping this outbreak.”

A Senate panel on Wednesday advanced Monarez’s nomination. The full Senate has yet to take up the matter.

People exposed to measles can contract the illness, particularly unvaccinated individuals, according to the CDC. Symptoms typically start appearing seven to 14 days after infection, and include a high fever, coughing, and red eyes.

There are no medicines approved by federal regulators specifically for measles. Doctors are encouraged to provide supportive care and focus on relieving symptoms.

Some doctors administer vitamin A, as recommended by the World Health Organization. Kennedy has promoted other treatments such as steroids and cod liver oil.