The United States earned its measles elimination status in 2000 — one of the signature public health achievements of the past quarter century. The Pan American Health Organization will not formally review whether that status still holds until November 2026. But a growing chorus of public health experts argues the country has already lost it, in every way that matters, months before the official paperwork will say so.
A sharply worded op-ed published June 24, 2026 by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota makes the case directly: "The United States has functionally lost its measles elimination status, and the time has come for public health officials to say so plainly."
