Measles outbreaks across the US spread as vaccination rates fall
Published: Sat 25th October 2025 : 06:43 PM
Category: Healt Emergencies
Measles outbreaks have spread across the U.S. to reach 41 states. The largest ongoing cluster in Utah and Arizona has now grown into the second-biggest outbreak of the year. Utah reported a total of 58 infections Thursday, bringing the tally for Utah and Arizona to 142 so far this year. The Arizona Department of Health has reported 84 cases and three hospitalizations. A total of 1,618 infections have been reported nationwide by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this year, the largest outbreak in three decades.
The newer clusters in the Southwest trail behind the Texas outbreak from earlier this year that started among the largely unvaccinated Mennonite community and infected more than 750 people in the area. The Texas outbreak has since been declared over. Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 when no outbreak spread for longer than 12 months following an uptick in vaccination rates. But each new outbreak that grows and continues could threaten that status by lasting longer than a year, said Anne Schuchat, former acting director of the CDC. If vaccination rates continue to drop, the U.S. could see more than 50 million measles cases in the next 25 years, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “The memory of how bad and disruptive and consequential measles can be is gone and unfortunately our population is learning this again,” said Schuchat. The outbreak along the Utah and Arizona border draws some similarities to the ones in Texas and New Mexico. Southwest Utah and neighboring North Arizona are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, an ultrareligious group with lower vaccination rates. People from both communities routinely cross state borders and interact. The Utah district with a current outbreak reported that only 80% of children under 3 years old had been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella in 2024. Recent measles outbreaks have centered around religious groups with higher vaccine hesitancy. The West Texas cluster was driven by the area’s Mennonites who often apply for religious exemptions from vaccinations. A 2019 outbreak was centered in Orthodox Jewish communities in New York that had been targeted by fasle claims the shots caused autism and contained ingredients that violated kosher dietary laws. Tracking diseases among religious groups can be difficult, as many do not report cases to local health departments or physicians, Shuchat said. There’s a separate ongoing outbreak in South Carolina. The state’s Department of Public Health has reported only 23 cases, but students at two elementary schools were exposed. More than 130 children were placed in quarantine to try and slow the spread, officials said.
Vaccination Rates
Measles is highly contagious and a community needs at least 95% vaccination rates to curb the spread. But rates across the US have declined in recent years to less than 93% for kindergarteners for the 2023-2024 school year, according to the CDC. The MMR vaccine is 97% effective after two doses in protecting against the virus, according to the CDC. Measles symptoms include a distinct rash, a high fever and cough. Complications can arise and lead to death. Three people have died from measles since January, including two unvaccinated children in Texas. The majority of cases this year have been among unvaccinated people. The CDC recommends children get their first dose of the MMR vaccine aged bewtween 12 and 15 months. Widespread vaccination protects children who are too young to get the shot, as well as the immunocompromised, by preventing the virus from circulating. “There’s hundreds of thousands of kids out there that are at risk,” Schuchat said. During the government shutdown, the CDC is still updating its measles dashboard.