Twenty-six years after measles was declared eliminated in the United States, the country is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in three and a half decades.
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Pennsylvania authorities on Tuesday announced two unvaccinated people died from the entirely preventable disease in that state. Florida is also having an outbreak, and doctors say it’s caused by declining vaccination rates.
“You know, it’s just really frustrating when it’s something that is completely preventable,” said Dr. Lisa Gwynn, a University of Miami pediatrician.
The numbers don’t lie, and they are not good. It takes a 95% vaccination rate with the MMR vaccine to provide herd immunity against measles, but Miami-Dade County is at 91%, and Broward is at only 85%, so health care professionals are extremely concerned. Florida has had 155 measles cases this year after only six cases in 2025. In 2024, there were 285 cases in the entire country. This year, there have been 2,777.
“The stage is set, the stage is set for potential communicable diseases to come into our schools and into our communities, and so it’s very frightening,” Dr. Gwynn said.
She says more parents are asking for vaccine exemptions for their children because misinformation is rampant in our society.
“Things that were normally routine care for children now require long discussions with parents about what we’re protecting children from,” Dr. Gwynn said. “Our state is also making it easier for parents to decline vaccines and allowing children that are underimmunized to enter into school.”
Two weeks ago, President Donald Trump signed an executive order recommending the MMR, or the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine be split into three shots, and made a totally unfounded claim about a vaccine that has been used for decades.
“Together there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal, and separately it looks like they are not at all lethal, just very effective,” the president said.
“Is there any evidence of that?” a reporter asked.
“No, what I’ve heard is there are some people who say it is that way,” Mr. Trump replied.
“We know it’s safe, we know it saves lives,” Dr. Gwynn said. “My only hope is that common sense and science will prevail, trust in the medical community will prevail.”
Last year, Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, called for ending all vaccine mandates in the state. The Legislature did not end the mandates, but now Ladapo wants to drop four vaccines on the required list: chickenpox; haemophilus influenzae, which protects against meningitis; pneumococcal, which protects against pneumonia; and hepatitis B.
“Parents should know that that vaccine was obviously not appropriately tested at the time it was approved by the FDA,” Ladapo said, claiming the Hep B vaccine was approved after only a week of testing.
Dr. Gwynn says that’s simply not true, the Hep B vaccine went through years of testing before it was approved.
“Those vaccines are extremely safe. Every vaccine that we administer to children are safe, and it’s much more dangerous to catch the disease than it is to get the vaccine,” Dr. Gwynn said.
Medical professionals recommend turning to your pediatrician for advice.
“Have the honest conversation with your doctor and work together in partnership because at the end of the day, we want what’s best for the child,” Dr. Gwynn said.
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