US measles outbreak reaches 35‑year high with over 2,300 cases

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 2,318 confirmed measles cases through July 23 2026, topping the 2,289 cases recorded for the entire year 2025 and marking the highest annual total since the early‑1990s. Cases have been identified in 44‑45 states and the District of Columbia, with the largest concentrations in South Carolina (about 670 cases, including an outbreak in Spartanburg County that approached 1,000 infections), Utah (over 500 cases), Texas, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Approximately 93 % of infections are among unvaccinated individuals, most of them children, reflecting a drop in kindergarten‑age vaccination coverage to roughly 92.5 %, well below the 95 % herd‑immunity threshold. Hospitalizations this year are lower than in 2025 and no deaths have been recorded so far, after three fatalities in the previous year. Public‑health officials describe the surge as a preventable crisis, linking it to declining vaccine uptake and to anti‑vaccine rhetoric from political figures such as Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. In Florida, a cluster at Ave Maria University sparked speculation that opposition to abortion‑derived vaccine cells may be influencing vaccine hesitancy. The CDC warns that the true case count is likely higher due to under‑reporting.