Topline:
Measles cases have climbed to their highest levels in 33 years, with outbreaks leading to deaths, hospitalizations, and renewed calls for vaccination.
Why now? The CDC has confirmed 1,288 measles cases this year, surpassing the 2019 total. Three people have died, including two children in Texas, and dozens have been hospitalized across the country. California has already exceeded its 2023 case count, with more expected.
The context: Federal officials continue to stress that measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines are the best defense against measles.
Vaccine rates: Vaccine hesitancy drives recent drops in childhood vaccination, with CDC data showing only 92.7% of kindergarteners in the U.S. were vaccinated in the 2023-2024 school year, below the 95% needed to prevent outbreaks.
Measles cases in the U.S. have risen to the worst in 33 years, according to reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC recorded 1,288 confirmed measles cases on Wednesday, 14 more than in 2019, when multiple outbreaks caused the U.S. to lose its status of having eliminated the illness. Three people have died, including two children in Texas, and dozens have been hospitalized across the country.
As of July 7, California has had 17 confirmed measles cases, already surpassing total cases for 2024 and 2023, only halfway through the year. However, cases remain below the 73 confirmed measles cases and six outbreaks in 2019 in California.
The federal government said the CDC “continues to recommend (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines as the best way to protect against measles,” and that the department is “supporting community efforts” to tamp down ongoing outbreaks in Texas, New Mexico and Kansas. Climbing infection rates come as some of the country’s leading medical associations sue Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging an effort to undermine public trust in vaccines.
Measles is preventable by the widely available measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which is safe and 97% effective at prevention after two doses. Vaccine hesitancy drives recent drops in childhood vaccination, with CDC data showing only 92.7% of kindergarteners in the U.S. were vaccinated in the 2023-2024 school year, below the 95% needed to prevent outbreaks.
While California’s childhood immunization rates are higher than the rest of the country, 16 counties have fallen below the threshold for herd immunity against measles, according to the California Department of Public Health. Last year, 96.2% of California kindergartners and transitional kindergartners were vaccinated against measles in the 2023-24 school year, down from 96.5% the year before.
