US measles deaths reach 10 as elimination status hangs in the balance

Wisconsin's Department of Health Services announced an infant's death on Friday, while Pennsylvania's Department of Health said its newest death was an unvaccinated patient who had tested positive for measles. Both states classify the fatalities as measles-associated.

That lifts Pennsylvania to seven measles-associated deaths and Wisconsin to two. On November 2, New York state reported a child's death, its first recorded measles death in more than 30 years.

Cases are climbing just as quickly. More than 5,400 confirmed measles cases have been recorded in the US so far, according to CDC data and the Johns Hopkins University International Vaccine Access Center tracker, more than double the 2,289 confirmed cases reported in 2025. As of Friday, Pennsylvania had logged 1,542 confirmed cases this year and Wisconsin 651.

The death count itself is contested. The CDC's website lists six measles-related deaths, fewer than state officials report. US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr asked CDC director Erica Schwartz not to count the deaths in the official tally, claiming there was no evidence they were measles-associated. The dispute over classification has set Kennedy against Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, whose state counts a death as measles-associated when a confirmed patient dies within 30 days of developing symptoms, unless an unrelated event caused it. The CDC says it is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to establish a standardised definition for measles deaths.

Epidemiologists told Al Jazeera that tracking measles-associated deaths has long been a standard used by the World Health Organization and the CDC, and infectious disease experts warn the dispute puts the agency at odds with that longstanding approach.

Measles was officially declared eliminated in the US in 2000, and holding that status requires stopping transmission for 12 months or more. The country could lose it this week. Kindergarten vaccination coverage has slipped from 95.2 percent in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4 percent in 2025-2026, even as local and state health departments ramp up vaccination efforts. The MMR vaccine offers roughly 97 percent protection after two doses.