1034 - An Update on Measles and the U.S.'s Elimination Status
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2026
⏱️ 17 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
About this episode:
The U.S. is on track to surpass 2025's alarming number of measles cases in 2026. At the same time, the nation's measles elimination status remains under review as health entities use genome sequencing to better understand the state of transmission. In this episode: Infectious disease specialist William Moss explains what's at stake with the verification of the U.S.'s elimination status and why this resurgence of measles is so concerning for immunization writ large.
Guest:
Dr. William Moss, MPH, is an infectious disease specialist and the executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Host:
Stephanie Desmon, MA, is a former journalist, author, and the director of public relations and communications for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.
Show links and related content:
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US Scientists Sequence 1,000 Genomes From Measles, a Disease Long Eliminated With Vaccines—KFF Health News
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The U.S. will likely lose its measles elimination status. Here's what that means—NPR
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US builds case to retain measles elimination status as infections mount—Reuters
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Tracking Measles Cases in the U.S.—International Vaccine Access Center
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There's a Measles Alert in My Area. Now What?—Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:31.2 | It's Lindsay Smith-Rogers. |
| 0:33.1 | Measles was declared eliminated in the United States 25 years ago, but cases are sharply rising. |
| 0:39.5 | Dr. William Moss, a Johns Hopkins immunization expert, joined Stephanie Desmond to discuss the process |
| 0:44.7 | of declaring whether or not the U.S. will lose its immunization status, what that declaration |
| 0:49.8 | could mean, and how to boost demand for vaccines in a world with increasing rates of |
| 0:55.1 | mis and disinformation. Let's listen. Bill Moss, thanks so much for coming back to the program. |
| 1:00.2 | Great. Thanks for having me, Stephanie. There's been a lot of talk about measles lately. It was |
| 1:04.5 | declared eliminated in the United States in the year 2000, but we're seeing a lot of new cases |
| 1:09.8 | right now. Paint a picture. What's happening? |
| 1:12.7 | Yes. As you said, the United States had declared that measles was eliminated in the year 2000. |
| 1:17.7 | That doesn't mean that there were no cases in the United States. It's been cases of measles in the |
| 1:22.7 | United States every year since then. But what that means is that there was not continuous transmission of measles |
| 1:29.1 | virus for 12 months or more. That's how we define elimination status. So what's happened is that last |
| 1:36.7 | year in 2025, we had more cases reported in the United States since we've had since 1991, when there was a big outbreak |
| 1:47.9 | across the United States, actually extending from 1989 to 1991. Last year, 2025, the CDC reported |
| 1:56.7 | 2,286 cases. So the most since we've eliminated measles, the most since 1991. This year, |
| 2:05.1 | we've seen an even sharper increase in measles cases. And the CDC just updated their numbers |
| 2:12.0 | and they're reporting 1,671 cases just in 2026. So if this trend continues, we will easily surpass the 2025 number of cases. |
... |
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