U.S. Could Lose Measles-Free Status Within Days as Regional Health Experts Review Outbreaks

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (TodayViralUSA) — The United States could lose its official measles-free status within days, as a panel of outside experts convened by the Pan American Health Organization reviews whether the virus has been spreading continuously inside the country for a year or more.

The U.S. has held measles-elimination status since 2000. A loss would mark a major public health setback after outbreaks that have sickened thousands of Americans, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Closed-door review in Washington

PAHO, the Americas regional office of the World Health Organization, asked all 35 of its member states to submit measles status reports. The expert panel is deliberating privately at its annual meeting in Washington, which runs through Nov. 13. Mexico and Bolivia are also on the watch list because of prolonged outbreaks, a PAHO spokesperson said.

PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa will make the final decision on each country’s status, and the determination is expected to be made public early next week.

The key test is whether a single chain of measles transmission has continued uninterrupted for at least 12 months, based on epidemiological and laboratory evidence. Noel Brewer, a University of North Carolina public health professor who chairs an independent U.S. advisory panel on measles, presented the CDC’s status report to the PAHO experts on Tuesday. He said publicly available data suggest the Arizona-Utah outbreak, which began in June 2025 and is still active, likely meets that threshold.

“Whether or not the US loses its measles elimination status, we have a huge problem with measles,” Brewer said.

Cases more than doubled this year

Since President Donald Trump returned to office in early 2025, state and federal officials have reported nearly 7,500 measles cases and 11 deaths nationwide. Infections this year are more than double the 2025 total, the country’s highest rate in more than three decades.

The review is a fresh test for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has for years raised doubts about the safety of measles vaccines without scientific evidence. Public health experts say his moves to reduce the number of recommended childhood immunizations have deepened vaccine hesitancy.

The Department of Health and Human Services said national vaccination rates were falling before Kennedy took office. CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz said the agency’s approach would not change if the status is lost, and that it would keep stressing that the MMR vaccine is “the number one way to prevent measles.”

Joining Canada and the U.K.

Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom have all recently lost measles-elimination status after WHO reviews. The U.S. has withdrawn from the WHO but remains a member of PAHO.

“Measles is the great indicator of where the cracks are in our foundation,” said Demetre Daskalakis, a former senior CDC official who resigned after Kennedy took office.