Measles cases surge to 33-year high

What happened

The U.S. has reached its highest annual measles cases tally since 1992, with 1,277 confirmed cases across 38 states and the District of Columbia, according to the latest data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Outbreak Response Innovation. Most of the infections are in Texas, but at least 155 people have been hospitalized nationwide, with three deaths from measles-related complications.

Who said what

"It's only July," said CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. "Let that settle in." This surge is "devastating," Claire Hannan, the executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, told The Washington Post. "We worked so hard to eliminate the threat of measles and to keep it at bay."

Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy. Less than 93% of kindergartners received the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine last year, below the 95% rate needed to prevent outbreaks. "People don't remember how sick this virus can make you — or how dead it can make you," Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the vaccine education center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told The Guardian.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

What next?

Public health experts warn that the U.S. will lose its measles elimination status if the outbreak continues at the current rate for longer than a year. A Senate committee will vote Wednesday on whether to advance the Trump administration's nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez, who has said that "vaccines save lives."