CDC reports more than 5,000 measles cases, highest number in 35 years

A total of 5,182 confirmed measles cases have been reported in the United States to date in 2026, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The figure for the highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease is the highest number reported by the CDC since 1991.

Children below the age of five make up 18 percent of cases, while children between ages five and 19 account for 41 percent of cases. The outbreak comes as vaccination coverage among US kindergarteners has decreased from 95.2 percent during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4 percent in the 2025-2026 school year.

However, the agency’s national death toll is lower than the number of measles-related deaths reported by state officials, particularly in Pennsylvania, the state hardest hit by the outbreak. The federal count has been at the centre of a dispute between Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr over how measles deaths are classified.