USA: Twice as many measles cases as last year

 

TT

Published 11:22

 

A vaccination clinic in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, earlier in October. Photo: Matt Rourke/AP/TT

The United States is grappling with its worst surge in measles cases in decades. The situation is particularly alarming in the state of Pennsylvania.

As of last Thursday, nearly 4,600 cases of measles had been confirmed in the U.S. this year, according to the public health agency, the CDC. That is more than double the number recorded during the entirety of 2025.

96 percent of those infected were either unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status.

Pennsylvania has been hit hardest; on Friday, the state’s Department of Health reported over 1,300 cases for 2026. Five people have died in the state—three of them in communities dominated by the Amish religious movement—according to NPR.

The CDC is urging people to get vaccinated. Children who are still too young to receive the vaccine are the most vulnerable.

“Infants are easy targets. It is incumbent upon all of us to protect one another,” pediatrician Deborah Greenhouse told the AP earlier this year.