Nearly 5,200 Americans have contracted measles during 2026 as health officials brace for an official Pan American Health Organization decision on whether the United States has lost its measles elimination status.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will maintain its current strategy regardless of the outcome reported CNN.
CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz stated that even if the nation loses the official measles-free status it has held since 2000, the agency’s approach will remain consistent in supporting state health departments according to Reuters. Global health experts convened by the Pan American Health Organization are set to determine the country’s elimination status in the coming days.
Schwartz Prioritizes State Collaboration to Combat Measles
Schwartz emphasized that the agency’s operational focus centers on collaborating with states. Let’s say we did lose our measles elimination status. We’re going to be doing the same exact thing that we’re doing today, which is working with the states,
Schwartz said in an interview. Many disease experts say that outcome is likely as the nation battles its highest infection total in more than three decades. Thousands of Americans have contracted measles since early 2025, coinciding with the start of the Trump administration.
The evaluation timeline began January 20, 2025, with the West Texas outbreak, marking the start of a 12-month period of continuous virus spread. A U.S. expert committee reviewed the evidence over the summer behind closed doors, and the panel is advising the PAHO director, who makes the final call.
PAHO reviews all evidence together under a confidential report where no single piece determines the outcome, and the review was pushed from April to November 2026 to allow time for genetic analysis.
State health departments have reported nearly 5,200 confirmed cases and 11 deaths since early last year, compared to 2,289 cases for all of 2025. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees health agencies including the CDC, has spent years casting doubt on the safety and efficacy of the MMR vaccine and sought to reduce childhood immunizations, with medical experts stating his rhetoric and actions have fueled falling vaccination rates.
Schwartz also pushed back on reports suggesting pressure from Kennedy or his top deputies, noting daily communication and stating that the secretary recognizes she is the director and that the CDC needs a leader.
Outbreaks in Close-Knit Communities
Schwartz pointed to closely knit communities as the primary source of U.S. measles infections. Several outbreaks have originated among religious groups and populations with lower vaccination rates than the general public, including the Amish in Pennsylvania noted NBC News.
These communities typically don’t vaccinate their children… their families were making decisions about the MMR vaccine 20 to 30 years ago and we’re just now seeing the results of those decisions,
Schwartz said. The real focus is why are we not leaning in on these close-knit communities to make sure that they understand that the number one way of preventing measles is the MMR vaccine.
Impact on Families and Local Immunization Rates
The dangerous decline in vaccinations is visible in places like Lancaster County, where the share of kindergartners receiving MMR vaccinations dropped from 95.5% in 2017-18 to 87.6% in 2025-26, precipitating a deadly outbreak spreading mostly among Amish families. Ben Riehl, a 61-year-old Amish man living in Lancaster County, stated he has witnessed fast-changing attitudes over the past decade, noting that vaccination used to be unquestioned.
Before becoming health secretary, Kennedy was a keynote speaker at a 2021 event in Lancaster County drawing over 1,000 mostly Amish attendees, where he claimed without scientific evidence that vaccines are harmful. In Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, the vaccination rate fell from 97.1% in 2019 to 92.9% last school year.
UPMC stated in a response that the hospital system is reviewing raised concerns while remaining committed to public health officials and guidance, while Shoup noted the ongoing frustration of navigating uncertain science for an infant still too young for the MMR shots.
