Big Year for Measles: U.S. Cases Surpass 2025, Most in 35 Years

Another grim milestone to report today in the ongoing disaster that is American health: Despite most health headlines of the last few weeks revolving around the ongoing (and still fairly mysterious) outbreak of cyclosporiasis parasite infection that is wreaking havoc on the nation’s salad-eating Americans with explosive diarrhea and nausea–at least 1,600 people to date, in 31 states–we’ve still got shit like measles to worry about as well.

You may not have heard a lot about measles outbreaks since earlier in 2026 when cases were at their highest, but the incredibly contagious viral infection has kept right on simmering along, a quarter century after it was previously declared eliminated in the United States. And this week, the number of measles infections passes 2,289, which means the U.S. has officially had more Americans sickened by measles in 2026 than we had in 2025. And considering that last year was already the worst measles year in more than three decades, that’s saying something. With five months still left to go in 2026, we now have more measles cases than any year since the tail end of the last major outbreak that ended in 1991, or 35 years ago.

28 years of cyclosporiasis testing

Screwworms eradicated in the US in 1966.

Measles eradicated in the US in 2000.

All are back because of this science denying administration.

— Morgan (@larubia22.bsky.social) 11:23 PM · Jul 15, 2026

As was the case prior to the large 1989-1991 outbreak, a fall in vaccination rates (the MMR vaccine, which protects against protects against measles, mumps, and rubella) is largely to blame for the subsequent surge in measles cases–a lesson in stupidity that Americans apparently need to learn in their bones every 30 years or so. At least in the late ’80s, however, public health professionals and the nation’s most visible doctors in political positions were united in spreading legitimate information about the need for vaccination. Today, we’re instead gifted with the likes of Mehmet Oz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose refusal to simply promote vaccination has had the direct effect of putting thousands of schoolkids in measles quarantines in states such as South Carolina and Utah. RFK Jr. in particular continues to play coy by saying that he is in favor of the measles vaccine, while simultaneously doing things like calling vaccination a “holocaust” and claiming that scared parents can make decisions about childhood vaccination schedules just as well as epidemiologists.

“Donald Trump and RFK Jr. remain on a suicide mission to scare America families away from vaccines without cause or evidence,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of nonprofit advocacy group Protect Our Care in a statement. “What they’ve accomplished is a huge dip in vaccination rates and the worst measles crisis in 35 years. While the nation’s measles elimination status is doomed, the Trump CDC apparently has not spent a dime on public service ads promoting the one thing that will get us out of the woods: the measles vaccine. Instead, Sec. Kennedy is busy cooking up his next anti-vax fear campaign at Trump’s personal urging while installing even more science deniers in the administration. And unfortunately, the prospective next CDC director has signaled no interest in standing up to her bosses as they insist on leaving Americans more vulnerable to preventable disease. Maintaining the Trump status quo means more outbreaks of everything from measles to whooping cough, more kids in hospitals, more needless deaths, and higher costs for everyone.”

The actual rate of measles cases, meanwhile, peaked early in 2026 in January and February thanks to massive outbreaks in South Carolina, Florida, Utah and Texas, with the number of infections in recent weeks tending to hover in the 30 to 50 range. That may seem fairly controllable, but allow me to remind you that two decades ago, the United States had gotten such a handle on measles thanks to widespread vaccination that it was averaging 50 or fewer cases PER YEAR, rather than per week. Donald Trump and RFK Jr. are currently attempting to pretend that the nation averaging the same number of measles cases each week that we had in the entirety of 2004 is a normal thing. Would you accept the internet or cable service that you had in 2004 over what you reasonably expect today? No? Then why are you fine with our infectious disease response being a pale shadow of what it was two decades ago?

Watching episode of ER from 2001. Dr. Chen & Dr. Carter are trying to diagnose an unconscious preschooler.
Carter: “Could be measles.”
Chen: “Measles? Have you ever seen measles?”
Carter: “No, have you?”
Chen: “Of course not, nobody’s seen measles.”

So far backwards in such a short time.

— Metal-Aged Mom (@metalagedmom.bsky.social) 12:47 AM · Jun 27, 2026

The data, and the concrete reasons behind why Americans continue to get infected with measles, could not possibly be more clear. Just look at who the victims have been: According to CDC data, 96% of the 2026 measles cases are found in people who had less than the two necessary doses of the MMR vaccine. Just 4% of the cases were “breakthrough” cases in fully vaccinated people, although even in this situation the vaccinated usually face a much milder version of the infection. A full 70% of the infected are age 19 and younger.

“That tells us this has been years of undervaccination in some communities,” said William Moss, professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins. “This has been years in the making. It’s not just the result of one outbreak. It’s very frustrating. This is a reflection that we have been unable to stop measles virus transmission in this country.”

And naturally, we can only expect for things to get that much worse until mass vaccination rates improve, something that will be difficult to do while the federal government is still going out of its way to cater to anti-vaccine pseudoscience. In the United States, the rate of measles transmission usually peaks in the winter during the months of cold, close quarters and holiday travel. Just how high can our grim tally of infection climb? Who will the unlucky soul be who manages to catch both measles and cyclospora simultaneously? Is there any version of Earth where we’re lucky enough that this person is RFK Jr.? I doubt it, but we can dream.