The United States has lost its official measles-elimination status after 26 years, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has decided, according to reports published on Friday.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the decision, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters reported the same account, and CNN said a source close to the process confirmed it. PAHO itself has not yet officially confirmed the decision, and neither the health body nor the US Department of Health and Human Services immediately responded to requests for comment. A formal announcement is expected on Tuesday, 17 November.
The United States had held elimination status since 2000, when PAHO determined the country had interrupted endemic transmission of the virus. Elimination does not mean zero cases. A country loses the status when the same strain of measles circulates without interruption for at least 12 months, showing that transmission has become established locally rather than arriving through imported cases.
An independent panel of eight experts appointed by PAHO reviewed epidemiological and laboratory evidence at its annual meeting in Washington, which ran through Friday, 13 November. Its recommendation goes to PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa, who makes the final decision. The panel’s analysis period ran from 20 January 2025, when an outbreak began in West Texas. A separate outbreak in Arizona and Utah, which began in June 2025 and is still going, is also thought to meet the threshold.
The scale of the resurgence is stark. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had received 5,182 confirmed measles cases in 2026 as of Thursday, from 45 states, New York City and the District of Columbia — already surpassing last year’s total of 2,289 and the highest annual figure since 1991. Reuters reported that some 7,500 people have been infected and 13 have died since 2025.
The decision was widely expected after years of falling vaccination levels and surging case counts, but it is still a significant blow to the country’s public health standing. Measles is one of the most contagious viruses known, and it can cause blindness, deafness, brain damage or death. Two doses of the measles vaccine provide 97 per cent protection, and a country needs about 95 per cent of its population vaccinated to stop the virus spreading.
The United States is not alone. Canada lost its elimination status last year after a lengthy multi-province outbreak, and Spain and the United Kingdom have also recently lost theirs. Mexico is considered at risk. The United States can regain the status once it shows that outbreak transmission has been interrupted for at least 12 months.
The decision also poses a test for the Trump administration. The resurgence coincides with falling immunisation rates and rising vaccine hesitancy under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has for years spread doubts, without scientific evidence, about the safety of measles vaccines.
Sources: Reuters, “US loses measles-free status after continued spread of the disease, WSJ reports” (https://www.reuters.com/world/us-loses-measles-free-status-after-continued-spread-disease-wsj-reports-2026-11-14/); CNN, “After 26 years, the US has lost its measles elimination status” (https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/13/health/us-measles-elimination-status); The Wall Street Journal, as reported by Reuters and CNN.
