Public health experts warn that weakened surveillance, misinformation, and delayed response are accelerating outbreaks in 2026
Measles in the US in 2026 is an acute public health problem with a large number of cases today and going back through last year—with no end in sight. Immunization rates for the measles mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines continue to decline, and this has been brought on by years of anti-vaccine rhetoric, and more recently, the pandemic, that brought about both disinformation and misinformation around the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
This background combined with the current government stance and its actions associated with vaccines make an already tough situation that much more worse to fight this vaccine-preventable disease. Paul Offit, MD, the director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), is concerned that today’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not operate as it has in the past and sees 2 major issues with the federal agency: a lacking disease surveillance operation, and no efforts for mobilization to help those in areas where vaccination is needed.
“I think Robert F Kennedy Jr has shredded the CDC, including its surveillance systems, number 1. Number 2, normally the CDC would be able to identify high risk areas and send immunization clinics into those areas. And I’m worried that we’re not able to do that.”
Last week, the CDC reported there were 588* cases of meals in the US in 17 jurisdictions, and last year there were 2,267 confirmed* cases of meals in the US in 45 jurisdictions.
In California, cases continue to be reported day by day. A case at Disneyland causes concern.
A possible outbrake in ICE detention centers causes concern.
Two people detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, have been confirmed to have meals. In response, facility movement was halted, and quarantine measures were implemented.
While these steps may help limit further transmission, they occurred only after exposure had already taken place. Detention facilities remain predictable flashpoints for vaccine-preventable disease, not because outbreaks are inevitable, but because prevention is repeatedly deprioritized.
This outbreak comes amid a rapidly accelerating resurgence of meals nationwide. As of Jan. 29, 588 confirmed cases have already been reported in the U.S. this year, following 2,267 cases in 2025 — itself a sharp increase from 285 cases in 2024. Declining vaccination coverage, rampant misinformation, and an eroded public health infrastructure are dismantling protections that once made minor outbreaks rare.
It remains to be seen what this year will look like in terms of the total number of cases, but Offit says there is a seasonality that runs with the disease.
“I know typically, meals is a winter/early-spring disease. so I think the numbers are only going to get worse up until maybe April or May,” Offit said.
