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America could lose its long-standing elimination status due to recent outbreaks
Julia Mustoin New YorkTuesday 02 December 2025 21:37 GMTComments
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The number of measles cases around the world plummeted by a dramatic 88 percent between 2000 and 2024 amid global vaccination efforts — but cases have surged over the last year in dozens of countries and it still killed 95,000 people, the World Health Organization warned in a new report.
There were nearly 800,000 more infections in 2024 than pre-Covid levels in 2019, totaling an estimated 11 million.
Nearly 60 countries reported large or disruptive measles outbreaks, which is nearly triple that of 2021 and the highest since the pandemic.
“Measles is the world's most contagious virus, and these data show once again how it will exploit any gap in our collective defenses against it,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
“Measles does not respect borders, but when every child in every community is vaccinated against it, costly outbreaks can be avoided, lives can be saved, and this disease can be eliminated from entire nations.”
open image in galleryWhile the number of measles cases fell markedly between 2000 and 2024, last year saw a concerning surge with dozens of countries reporting outbreaks (AFP via Getty Images)All regions except the Americas had at least one country experiencing a large outbreak in 2024, with a 96 percent increase in the Eastern Mediterranean, 47 percent in the European region, and a 42 percent increase in the South-East Asian region over 2019.
The African region experienced a 40 percent drop in cases and a 50 percent decline in deaths over the same period, partly due to increasing immunization, the agency said.
While the Americas had achieved a 98 percent reduction in estimated cases and saw measles deaths fall to “essentially zero,” pockets of under-vaccinated communities and cases spread by travelers resulted in outbreaks in several countries.
That led both Canada and North America to lose their elimination status last month.
The U.S., where vaccine hesitancy has surged in recent years, could also lose its elimination status if cases continue to crop up in Arizona, Utah and the Southwest through January. The year has seen nearly 1,800 cases in 43 states and reported 46 outbreaks.
By the end of last year, 82 countries had eliminated measles, with no endemic measles virus transmission for more than 12 months.
open image in galleryOutbreaks in the U.S. tied to unvaccinated communities have put America’s measles elimination status at risk (Getty Images)Recent surges are tied to falling vaccination rates, which have dropped below the 95 percent threshold, the report said.
The measles vaccine’s two doses are 97 percent effective against infection. That’s how the U.S. reached its elimination status initially.
Nearly 59 million lives have been saved by the measles vaccine since 2000.
While the WHO reported one of the lowest death tolls since 2000, the agency said every death from a disease that could be prevented using a highly effective and low-cost vaccine “is unacceptable.”
Measles cases without vaccination can lead to brain inflammation, pneumonia and blindness, with immunocompromised individuals and children younger than five the most susceptible.
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