A dangerous moment as measles spreads

Last year, the United States saw 16 outbreaks of measles, with a total of 285 cases. At the time, that seemed high, especially compared with 2023's four outbreaks and 59 cases.

But as 2025 comes to a close, instances of measles have soared, with a stunning 1,958 cases — amid 49 outbreaks — reported so far. 

As a result, more than 25 years after the nation officially and proudly declared measles eliminated, that designation, based on a lack of outbreaks and uncontrolled transmission, is threatened.

This is a dangerous moment. Measles is extraordinarily contagious and potentially deadly; there've been three fatalities this year. The outbreaks come as the nation's top public health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., seeks to spread misinformation, limit vaccine availability and encourage changes to the childhood vaccine schedule. He and other officials are encouraging vaccine hesitancy and allowing the nation's public health to rapidly deteriorate. 

The ongoing measles resurgence is directly related to those efforts. Among this year's measles cases, 92% of patients were unvaccinated.

The most recent outbreak is spreading through South Carolina, particularly in Spartanburg County, amounting to 144 cases as of Friday. Hundreds of others are in quarantine; at least 11 schools have been impacted.

Spartanburg's overall vaccination rate among its school-age population stands at just 90%, significantly below the 95% required for herd immunity — the level of protection considered necessary to avoid measles outbreaks. South Carolina also has a religious exemption to vaccines, and Spartanburg County has the highest percentage of religious exemptions statewide, at 8.2%.

That's no coincidence.

It also explains why New York has remained relatively unscathed by the explosion of measles nationwide, and avoided significant outbreaks since lawmakers passed a ban on religious exemptions in 2019, requiring students to be vaccinated unless they have a medical exemption. That improved immunization rates for school-age children and prevented even anti-vax hubs like Long Island from becoming petri dishes for once-eliminated threats to health and lives. New York City has reported 20 measles cases this year; there've been 28 more in the rest of the state, including one in Suffolk County. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New York's vaccination coverage for kindergarteners stood at 97.7% during the 2023-24 school year. That's thanks to the lack of available exemptions. South Carolina's was just 92.1%. Utah and Arizona, also outbreak epicenters, fall below 90%. Those lower rates lead to spread.

There are multiple efforts, in the courts and in proposed legislation in Congress, to undo New York's religious exemption ban, and other similar bans in other states. The current outbreaks illustrate just how dangerous such efforts would be. Attempts to reduce the childhood vaccine schedule are also worrisome. It's up to local and state public health authorities, along with our congressional representatives and President Donald Trump, to educate the public, encourage vaccination and keep New York's existing exemption intact. That's the only way to keep measles and other once-eradicated diseases at bay and make the nation well again.