Global health experts are meeting in Washington this week to decide whether the United States has lost its official measles-free status — a public health achievement it has held since 2000, now in jeopardy after the worst outbreak in more than three decades.
Key Points
- US measles elimination status — a Pan American Health Organization panel is deciding whether the US has lost its measles-free status, held since 2000.
- Nearly 5,200 confirmed cases have been reported in 2026, more than double the 2,289 in all of 2025, with 11 deaths since early last year.
- CDC Director Dr Erica Schwartz says the agency will not fundamentally change its response even if the status is lost.
- The decision is expected to be made public early next week; Mexico and Bolivia are also on the watch list.
The Pan American Health Organization asked all 35 member states in the Americas to submit measles status reports for review by a panel of outside experts. They are making their recommendations during closed-door deliberations in Washington, where their annual meeting runs through Friday 13 November. PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa will then make the final decision on each country’s status and communicate it to the relevant authorities.
The experts will consider whether US measles transmission has continued uninterrupted for 12 months or longer, based on epidemiological and laboratory evidence. The determination is expected to be made public early next week. Mexico and Bolivia are also on the watch list because of prolonged outbreaks, a PAHO spokesperson said.
“The same exact thing”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not fundamentally change its response to measles outbreaks even if the country loses its elimination status, CDC Director Dr Erica Schwartz told Reuters on Tuesday. “Let’s say we did lose our measles elimination status. We’re going to be doing the same exact thing that we’ve been doing today, which is working with the states,” she said — helping states raise awareness and promoting the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which the agency identifies as the main way to prevent the disease.
The scale of the outbreak explains why the decision matters. Nearly 5,200 confirmed cases have been reported in 2026, compared with 2,289 throughout 2025, and state health departments have reported 11 deaths since early last year. Since President Donald Trump took office for a second time in early 2025, nearly 7,500 US measles cases have been reported by state and federal health officials. The disease was granted elimination status in the US in 2000, meaning there was no continuous domestic transmission for 12 months.
The surge in the states
The national picture is made up of state outbreaks, and Indiana shows how fast they can grow. On 8 October, 29 people had been sickened by measles in the state. As of Tuesday, the number had ballooned to 153 confirmed cases across more than 20 counties, a rise of more than 400% in a month, according to the Indiana Department of Health. Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis has started screening all visitors for measles, a first for the hospital.
Low vaccination rates are the likeliest culprit, in Indiana and nationally. Vaccination rates among US kindergartners have fallen from 95.2% during the 2019–20 school year to 92.4% in the 2025–26 school year, the CDC reports, leaving more than 280,000 children at risk. When more than 95% of people in a community are vaccinated, most people are protected through what is known as herd immunity; below that threshold, the virus finds gaps.
The decision poses a new test for the Trump administration and its top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has for years spread doubts, without scientific evidence, about the safety of measles vaccines. The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that national vaccination rates declined before Kennedy took office. Whatever the panel decides next week, the virus has already made its verdict clear.
For background on the warning signs, see our report on an ex-FDA chief warning US measles cases are undercounted, and on US measles cases topping 5,000 in the worst outbreak since 1991. More in our Health section.
Sources: Reuters via 985 The River, “US faces loss of measles-free status as experts meet for review” (https://985theriver.com/2026/11/11/us-faces-loss-of-measles-free-status-as-experts-meet-for-review/); Voice of Healthcare, “CDC Maintains Measles Response Amid US Outbreak” (https://vohnetwork.com/news/global/cdc-chief-says-us-measles-response-will-remain-unchanged-even-if-elimination-status-is-lost).