Trump and RFK Jr. have presided over more measles cases since taking office than the previous 30 years combined
Today, the U.S. officially lost its measles elimination status — more than 25 years after the disease was declared eliminated in the U.S. — after the Pan American Health Organization determined the U.S. had not sufficiently shown that it can contain the spread of measles. The U.S. has already recorded 5,412 confirmed cases in 2026 and 43 new outbreaks this year alone. Nearly 1,400 cases this year were reportedly contracted through outbreaks that started last year.
The PAHO meeting was originally scheduled for April this year, but was postponed until after the midterm elections — and since its originally scheduled date, more than 3,500 measles cases have been reported in the U.S. Meanwhile, just last week, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Erica Schwartz said that the agency would not change its measles response if the U.S. were to lose its elimination status.
In the past month, the CDC reported the two highest weekly case increases in the last 30 years, even as RFK Jr. insists that the Trump administration has “done better in preventing [measles] than any country in the world.”
In response, DNC Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin released the following statement:
“Donald Trump, JD Vance, and RFK Jr. are putting American lives at risk as diseases that were once eliminated in this country run rampant and families are left to fend for themselves. As the death toll rises, Trump and RFK Jr. continue to spread dangerous misinformation. Trump and RFK Jr. haven’t ‘Made America Healthy Again’ — they have intentionally put children at risk of serious illness.”
