The number of measles cases this year has become the highest since 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on July 24.
Forty-five states have confirmed 2,318 cases through July 23, the CDC said this week.
That’s up from 2,289 cases in 2025 and the highest since 1991, when 9,643 cases were recorded.
Outbreaks are ongoing in central Virginia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
As Zachary Stieber reports for The Epoch Times, some doctors said the jump in cases stems from lower numbers of people receiving vaccines against measles.
“High vaccination coverage has protected even the un- and undervaccinated because of herd protection, keeping measles at bay for the past few decades,” Dr. William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a statement. “But in communities with pockets of susceptible individuals across a broad age range, measles has been able to take hold, infecting those who are susceptible and spreading rapidly.”
“Measles vaccines are extremely safe and effective,” said Moss, whose center helps build “knowledge and support for the value of vaccines,” according to its website, and partners with vaccine manufacturers.
“Getting you or your child vaccinated is the best way to protect against disease.”
The measles vaccination rate among kindergartners in 2024 and 2025 was 92.5 percent, down from 95 percent in 2019 a
