Measles Outbreaks: What to Know About Virus Severity and Vaccine Effectiveness

Measles cases are surging in West Texas, where an outbreak has led to the first U.S. death from the virus in a decade.

But in a meeting with President Trump and other cabinet officials this week, the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said the situation was “not unusual.”

“We have measles outbreaks every year,” he added. Mr. Kennedy has also said in the past that immunizations against measles and some other infectious diseases are unnecessary and risky.

Public health experts said that while it’s true we do have measles cases in the United States every year, the latest outbreak is concerning because of its size, because a child has died and because larger outbreaks like this are becoming more frequent as vaccination rates decline.

“While we certainly see measles cases from time to time, it’s a rarity that we see an unfolding outbreak of this scale,” said Jason Schwartz, an associate professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health. At least 164 people have been sickened with measles so far this year. That is more than half the number of cases in all of 2024, and higher than the 59 cases documented in 2023.

How ‘normal’ are measles outbreaks?

Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, which was considered a landmark public health achievement made possible by the vaccine. Since then, there have been cases every year — typically originating with somebody who traveled abroad to a destination where measles is more common, and brought the virus back.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

---

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

---

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.