An independent commission of experts reporting to the director of the Pan American Health Organization determined that the United States no longer qualifies as having eliminated measles, a source close to the process told CNN on Friday; The Wall Street Journal first reported the decision.

Measles had been considered eliminated as a continually transmitting illness in the US since 2000.

The committee considers an infection endemic when the same viral strain is passed from person to person for at least a year within the same country, a determination it makes by comparing the genetic code of viruses sampled from patients.

Al Jazeera reports the revocation comes as the country battles its highest measles caseload in more than 30 years, with two more measles-associated deaths announced Friday in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, bringing the state-reported total to 10 this year.

The decision was widely expected after years of falling vaccination levels, but it is still a black mark on the nation's public health policy, CNN notes. The US helped rid the world of smallpox and worked for decades to drive measles offshore, so the loss is a humbling reversal.

Dr. Peter Hotez of Texas Children's Hospital called the loss 'incredibly embarrassing,' but said the bigger message is that 'basically, measles is back,' with vaccination rates down across the country.

Al Jazeera reports kindergartener measles vaccination coverage has slipped from 95.2% in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4% in 2025-2026, while the period of sustained transmission coincides with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s tenure.

Protect Our Care blamed the Trump administration's anti-vax agenda, including an August executive order it says made the measles vaccine less accessible and more expensive.

The strongest signal came from Utah.

CNN reports that in August, scientists at Utah's public health laboratory published a preprint study showing the same measles strain had circulated in the state for more than a year, accounting for more than 95% of cases there and causing over 600 cases between June 2025 and June 2026 as it traveled from the southwest of the state to central Utah.

CNN also cites sustained outbreaks in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New York, and quotes virologist Dr. Angela Rassmussen saying the Utah data alone would have been enough to make the case.

On case counts, CNN and Al Jazeera both report more than 5,400 confirmed US cases this year — the most since 1991, per CNN — with nearly all cases in unvaccinated people or those of unknown status, and hospitalization in roughly 1 in 9 cases, according to the CDC.

The human toll is mounting.

Al Jazeera reports about 7,500 Americans have been infected since last year and 13 have died in that span, and that the newly reported deaths include an infant in Wisconsin and an unvaccinated patient in Pennsylvania, which has logged seven measles-associated deaths and Wisconsin two.

CNN reports at least 10 deaths after catching measles according to state reports, and explains why measles is not benign: it can wipe out immune memory, leaving people vulnerable to pneumonia and other secondary threats, it can endanger pregnancies, and in rare cases it causes the progressive, fatal neurologic complication SSPE.

The MMR vaccine prevents these outcomes, cutting an exposed person's chance of illness by 97% after two doses. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, former director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, called elimination status 'a vital sign for our public health system.'

The revocation also exposes a data fight.

According to Al Jazeera, Health Secretary Kennedy asked CDC director Erica Schwartz not to count deaths in the official tally, and the CDC's national count of six deaths sits below the state-reported total, while Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro disputes Kennedy over how deaths are classified; the CDC says it is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists on a standardized definition.

The US is not alone: CNN reports Canada lost its elimination status last year and Mexico is at risk, and Al Jazeera notes Spain and the UK recently lost theirs after WHO review.

Johns Hopkins measles expert Dr. William Moss told CNN the US must now be on a path to regaining the status, but said that is 'not going to be a trivial task' amid diminished vaccine trust, rising nonmedical exemptions and declining kindergarten MMR uptake.