Health

U.S. on the verge of losing measles-free status as health panel opens review

Washington • November 11, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

A gloved hand holds a vial of M-M-R II measles vaccine while a young child is held by an adult during a vaccination

Photo: TEK Image Library via Fine Art America

Global health experts opened a four-day review in Washington on Tuesday to decide whether the United States has lost its official measles-free status, a public health achievement it has held since 2000, after outbreaks across the country sickened thousands of Americans this year.

The review is being carried out by an independent panel of experts convened by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which asked all 35 member states in the Americas to submit measles status reports. The panel is holding closed-door deliberations in Washington, where its annual meeting runs through Friday, November 13. PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa will then make the final decision, which is expected to be made public early next week.

A country loses its elimination status if measles transmission is re-established and continues uninterrupted for at least 12 months, based on epidemiological and laboratory evidence. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 5,182 confirmed measles cases in 2026 as of November 5 — the highest annual total since 1991 and more than double the 2,289 cases recorded in all of 2025. In the year the nation eliminated measles, 2000, the CDC recorded just 85 cases. A separate tracker from Johns Hopkins University puts the 2026 total closer to 5,400.

Public health experts say the outcome may turn on genomic data showing whether the same viral lineage has circulated inside the country for more than 12 consecutive months. Noel Brewer, a public health professor at the University of North Carolina who chairs an independent U.S. advisory panel on measles, presented the CDC's measles status report to the PAHO experts on Tuesday. Based on publicly available data, he said, the Arizona-Utah outbreak, which began in June 2025 and is still going, likely meets the 12-month criteria. Several epidemiologists told CIDRAP News they expect PAHO will almost certainly find measles endemic in the United States.

“Whether or not the US loses its measles elimination status, we have a huge problem with measles,” Brewer said.

Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom recently lost their measles-elimination status after similar reviews by World Health Organization experts. Canada was found to have endemic measles again at the same commission's meeting last November, when the U.S. status was classified as “sustained with major concerns.” Mexico and Bolivia are also on the watch list because of prolonged outbreaks, a PAHO spokesperson said. The U.S. dropped out of the World Health Organization but remains a member of PAHO, its Americas branch.

Since President Donald Trump took office for the second time in early 2025, nearly 7,500 measles cases and 11 deaths have been reported by state and federal health officials. The CDC's official count stands at four measles-associated deaths in 2026, but state health departments have reported eight this year, including six in Pennsylvania, one in New York and one in Wisconsin.

“It feels really concerning, as though everything is falling apart. The US was held up as a model for a lot of vaccine programs,” said Helen Bedford, professor of children's health at University College London, who has advised the UK government on vaccination. “But measles is definitely back in the United States. And it will take a lot of work to reverse that. And it is tragic, because it's children who are going to suffer at the end of the day.”

The surge is playing out state by state. In Indiana, confirmed cases ballooned to 153 as of Tuesday, across more than 20 counties — up from 29 on October 8, a more than 400% increase in a month — according to the Indiana Department of Health. LaGrange County has the most cases, with 36. Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis began screening all visitors for measles last week, the first time it has done so specifically for the disease, because it cares for infants too young for the MMR vaccine and immunocompromised children.

Health officials point to falling vaccination rates. The CDC reports that MMR vaccination among U.S. kindergartners fell from 95.2% in the 2019–20 school year to 92.4% in 2025–26, leaving more than 280,000 children at risk. In LaGrange County, the kindergarten MMR rate sits at 74%, according to state data. Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing the disease.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that national vaccination rates declined before Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took office. Dr. Erica Schwartz, director of the CDC, said this week that the agency works closely with states to contain outbreaks, and that “the number one way to prevent measles is the MMR vaccine.” If the U.S. loses its status, she said, the CDC will keep doing “the same exact thing” it is doing today.

Sources: Reuters, “US faces loss of measles-free status as experts meet for review” (Nov 11, 2026); CIDRAP News, “US poised to lose measles elimination status—what does that mean?” (Nov 10, 2026); Indianapolis Star, “In measles surge, Indiana is up to 153 confirmed cases” (updated Nov 11, 2026); U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention measles data, updated November 6, 2026.