More Measles Deaths Reported as U.S. Cases Top 5,400

Wisconsin and Pennsylvania reported two more measles-associated deaths on Friday, as the U.S. stands on the brink of losing its measles elimination status with more than 5,400 cases.
Wisconsin health officials reported a measles-associated death in a child, without further detail. The state, which has now logged 649 cases since August, just last week reported its first such death since 1990. The death in Pennsylvania involved an unvaccinated resident, according to the state’s health department, which didn’t disclose further information.
Nationwide, 5,412 cases of measles have been confirmed as of Nov. 12, according to the CDC, the highest tally in decades. Nearly all — 97% — have been in unvaccinated people.
The CDC has confirmed six measles-related deaths this year, double the three it logged last year, but a number for 2026 that trails the 10 measles-related deaths reported by state health departments. With Friday’s announcement, Pennsylvania has reported seven such deaths among its nation-leading 1,542 measles cases, Wisconsin two, while New York has recorded one death among its 210 cases.
The ongoing outbreaks will likely mean the end of the U.S. measles elimination status, first attained in 2000. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) met this week to determine whether the chain of measles transmission in the U.S. has gone on uninterrupted for at least a year, which would spell the end of the public health victory — a decision by PAHO is expected imminently.
The outbreaks nationwide come as the vaccine skepticism of U.S. public health officials like Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official — have sown doubt over the safety of the MMR shot and other vaccines.
The CDC cited safety concerns in its controversial move to recommend separate MMR and varicella vaccines, and the Trump administration has proposed separating the MMR vaccine’s components into three individual shots, a recommendation that if implemented would almost certainly further decrease already-slipping U.S. vaccination rates.

The CDC earlier this year reported that 92.4% of 2025-26 kindergarteners got their required MMR shots. Prior to the COVID pandemic, that rate was at 95% — the level needed for herd immunity.