America is in danger of losing its “measles-free” status

If New York’s outbreak continues into October, the loss of measles elimination status will be a gut punch to public health.

Eliminating measles took decades of work to achieve. “It was a confirmation that our system of immunization was working really well,” said Hotez. “The fact that measles is back is a worrying sign there’s a problem nationally in our immunization system, that there’s been a breakdown.”

“It’s a line in the sand,” said University of Pennsylvania researcher Alison Buttenheim, “to go back to having regularly circulating measles in the country.”

If that happens, we’ll have to start worrying about the virus again in our communities. But even if America manages to hang on to its elimination status this year, we’ll have to wonder whether our children are in schools with high enough vaccine rates, and we’ll have to think about measles whenever we travel with newborn babies or family members who can’t be immunized. (Hotez said he got a booster shot to make sure he’s up to date, and anyone who’s worried about their measles immunization status can get a blood test to make sure they have antibodies for the virus.)

It’s also possible that America gets the measles under control again soon, and that this doesn’t lead to a full-blown disease resurgence.