The Pan American Health Organization revoked the milestone after the disease spread continuously across the nation, mirroring recent status losses in Canada, Spain, and the UK. Surging infections have caused approximately 7,500 illnesses and 13 deaths since 2025 as vaccine coverage slipped below critical community thresholds. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Erica Schwartz affirmed that federal officials will persist in collaborating with states to expand immunization efforts. To reverse the ruling, domestic transmission must completely cease for a continuous 12-month period.
Key points
The United States must maintain a 95 percent vaccination rate to ensure herd immunity and…: The United States must maintain a 95 percent vaccination rate to ensure herd immunity and stop continuous viral transmission.
Health officials require the nation to fully halt local transmission and stay outbreak-fr…: Health officials require the nation to fully halt local transmission and stay outbreak-free for 12 months to regain elimination status.
The loss of status follows similar determinations by international health experts regardi…: The loss of status follows similar determinations by international health experts regarding Spain, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
The reported decision by the Americas branch of the World Health Organization comes as the US battles the highest number of measles cases it has seen in more than three decades.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has revoked the United States' measles-elimination status, ending a 26-year run after determining the country failed to halt continuous transmission of the highly contagious virus for more than a year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday (Nov 13).
The international health body did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the report, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The reported decision by the Americas branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) comes as the US battles the highest number of measles cases it has seen in more than three decades.
Some 7,500 people in the US have been infected with measles and 13 have died since 2025. That period coincides with falling immunisation rates and rising vaccine hesitancy under US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., who has for years spread doubts, without scientific evidence, about the…
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