As I continue to say, you may be done with the measles, but the measles is not done with you, nor the entire country. Coinciding with the profane installment of RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2025 saw the largest number of cases of measles in America in 3 decades. After decades of preaching that established vaccines such as the MMR vaccine were dangerous, caused autism, or were simply not tested enough for safety to be in use, Kennedy oversaw the fruits of his labor as Americans, particularly children, got sicker. Through it all, Kennedy confronted this reality with conspiracy theories, or claiming he had this all under control, or with suggestions that real problem is dirty immigrants infecting Americans.
You will note that none of this represents government actually doing anything about the measles outbreaks that are now all over the place in America. Due to this inaction, we eclipsed 2025’s case count all the way back in July. And because of the nature of highly infectious diseases, we have now reached a case count that has more than doubled that of 2025.
New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows there have been more than 4,580 measles cases reported in 2026 across the U.S. as of Oct. 22, which is more than double the number for the whole of 2025.
Something like a quarter of the case counts have come from Pennsylvania alone. Some of the talk from the administration and others is using that fact to try to paint this as a single-state problem, but it absolutely is not. Nor is this an “Amish problem,” which is a claim stemming from the fact that the highest case counts are occurring in counties with large Amish populations, that typically have lower vaccination rates.
This is important: that’s just not how infectious diseases work. A problem for one county is a problem for the surrounding counties. A problem for one state is a problem for the country. The American people move and travel freely, and allowing a disease as insidious as measles to fester means it will spread.
Vaccination remains the best protection against this disease, even as some breakthrough cases continue to occur among the vaccinated. And it seems that the public is starting to wise up to the fact that Kennedy’s warning against vaccines is bullshit, particularly those closest to the outbreaks.
One of the best ways to protect oneself from getting the measles is vaccination, according to health officials. Two doses of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine known as MMR, is nearly 97% effective against measles, according to the CDC. One dose is about 93% effective.
In Pennsylvania, the health department said healthcare providers have seen more residents interested in getting vaccinated for measles. Across the state, more than 39,000 measles vaccines were administered during the first three weeks of October – higher than an average of 25,000 vaccines administered across the state in one month, the health department said.
Getting to the other side of all of this will not be done quickly. It’s going to take time. Vaccination rates in America continue to fall overall, which is going to be a headwind against getting measles in America under control. Perhaps changes will be made after the midterms that will lead to actual government action on this problem. Still, it will take time.
Sadly, a good first goal here would be for there to be fewer measles cases in 2027 than what will be a record-breaking total in 2026. Given that measles was declared eliminated in 2000, a goal like that is embarrassing. But at least it would be a start.
But for that, we need federal leadership that just isn’t in place at the moment.
