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Lien Anh Ha, Kim Mulholland | New England Journal of Medicine | (2025)
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Abstract

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Plain English Takeaway

This paper looks at what needs to be done to stop measles from spreading and explains why keeping up with vaccinations is so important for everyone's health.

Study Aim

The paper aims to review the current global situation of measles (a highly contagious viral disease), highlight the challenges in controlling its spread, and discuss strategies needed to achieve and maintain measles elimination worldwide. Simply put: The paper wants to explain what is needed to stop measles from spreading around the world.

Study Design

This work is a narrative review. The authors analyze and summarize recent data, trends, and scientific literature about measles outbreaks, vaccination coverage, and public health responses. They do not conduct new experiments or collect original data, but instead synthesize existing knowledge to provide a comprehensive overview of the measles situation as of 2025. Simply put: The authors read and explain lots of studies and reports about measles to give a big-picture update.

Findings

The review shows that measles remains a major threat to global health, especially where vaccination rates have dropped. The authors report that recent outbreaks are linked to gaps in immunization coverage and disruptions caused by events like the COVID-19 pandemic. They emphasize that high vaccination rates (over 95% coverage with two doses of measles-containing vaccine) are essential to prevent outbreaks. The paper recommends strengthening routine immunization programs, improving outbreak response, and addressing vaccine hesitancy (when people are unsure or refuse vaccines). The authors argue that without renewed efforts, progress toward measles elimination could be lost. Simply put: The paper says we need to keep vaccinating everyone to stop measles from coming back.

Referenced In

Lee Johnson
21 days ago
A Scientific Review of Claims made by RFK Jr.

Claim: “We’ve Done Better At Controlling the Measles Outbreak Than Any Country in the World”

Verdict: False and misleading.

We’ve done better at controlling the measles outbreak than any country in the world. [...] We’ve limited that last year to 2,200 cases. Mexico had 3 times that much with one third of our population. Canada had double that much, with one eighth of our population. Europe had 127,000 cases, the year before. We have a global pandemic. It is nothing to do with me. [...] I’ve done a better job at limiting it than any country in the world.

WATCH LIVE: Health Secretary Kennedy testifies on HHS budget before Senate HELP CommitteeRFK Jr. made this bold claim as part of his hearing at the Senate Finance Committee last week.

His claim could be interpreted in two ways:

  1. The US has prevented measles better than any other country, shown by its lower per capita infection rate.

  2. The US has handled the outbreak the best, by controlling the rise in cases. 

We’ll look at both in turn.

Does the US Have the Lowest Measles Cases Per Capita in the World?

RFK Jr. cites specific figures, and is generally accurate. The World Health Organization’s April 2026 Measles and Rubella Global Update says:

  • The US had 2,283 cases in 2025 (6.68 per million population).

  • Canada had 5,070 cases in 2025 (137 per million).

  • Mexico had 6,434 cases in 2025 (49.5 per million).

  • Europe had 127,412 cases in 2024 (171 per million).

However, there are countries with much lower rates per capita , such as Czechia (3.45 per million), Denmark (4.18 per million), Finland (0.36 per million), Spain (4.59 per million) and Sweden (3.49 per million), among others.

Has the US Handled the Outbreak Better than Other Countries?

This interpretation is even weaker. Johns Hopkins University’s Measles Tracker shows that by week 15 of 2026, there had been 1,811 cases in the US. At this time in 2025, there had only been 912 cases. So the situation is getting worse, if anything.

For comparison, despite having more cases in 2025, Canada is down to 603 cases so far in 2026.

Is the Outbreak “Nothing to Do With” RFK Jr.?

While RFK Jr. obviously isn’t personally responsible, it’s worth noting that research on the outbreak consistently points to vaccine hesitancy as a leading cause. RFK Jr. has certainly contributed to that.

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