Tracking Emerging Public Health Challenges – February 9, 2026 – Measles
“Take the vaccine, please. We have a solution for our problem. Not all illnesses are equally dangerous, and not all people are equally susceptible to those illnesses. But measles is one you should get your vaccine (for),” Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Feb. 8.” (1)
“Oz has previously leaned into Kennedy’s campaign to “make America healthy again” (Maha), an effort to redesign the country’s food supply, reject vaccine mandates and cast doubt on some long-established scientific research. He cast doubt on how well flu vaccines work in an interview with Newsmax last year. “Every year, there’s a flu vaccine. It doesn’t always work very well. That’s why it’s been controversial of late,” Oz said. He instead recommended that Americans “take care” of themselves, so they can “overwhelm” the flu when they encounter it.” (2)
“The measles outbreak in South Carolina reached 876 cases on Feb. 3, 2026. That number surpasses the 2025 outbreak in Texas and hits the unfortunate milestone of being the largest outbreak in the U.S. since 2000, when the disease was declared eliminated here.”
“Infectious disease pediatrician Rebecca Schein at Michigan State University explored recent modeling studies that predict the trajectory of measles infection rates. One 2025 study she described found that the U.S. is on track to see 850,000 cases over the next 25 years at current vaccination rates.
“If vaccine rates decrease further, the study found, case numbers could increase to 11 million over the next 25 years,” she wrote.
That scenario is not a foregone conclusion, of course. Another study suggested that outbreaks could be contained if they’re stopped quickly—as long as 85% of the population is vaccinated against the disease.” (3)
4 times as many measles cases in a few weeks than US typically averages in a whole year: CDC, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/us-sees-733-measles-cases-nationwide-month/story?id=129921325
March for Life attendees may have been exposed to measles, DC Health warns, https://www.npr.org/2026/02/08/nx-s1-5705972/measles-march-for-life-dc-reagan-national-union-station-metro
“Rep. Tony Gonzales said Sunday that the Texas immigration detention center in which 5-year-old Liam Ramos was detained is “nicer than some elementary schools” amid reports of a measles outbreak and criticism of the conditions from immigration activists.
“The facility in Dilley, I’ve visited there many times,” Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “I’ve visited dozens of facilities. It is a nice facility. It’s a detention facility for people that are in the country illegally that are about to be deported but it is a nice facility. Nicer than some elementary schools.”” (4)
“While most cases are mild, roughly one in every five unvaccinated people in the United States who contract the virus lands in the hospital.
The virus is particularly dangerous for children. Up to three out of every 1,000 children with measles die from respiratory and neurological complications, according to the C.D.C. As many as one in every 20 children with measles goes on to develop pneumonia, which is the leading cause of death from measles among children. In rare cases, children can also experience brain swelling, which can leave them with lifelong hearing damage or intellectual disabilities.
The virus also wipes out the immune system, which can leave people vulnerable to other infections for years after a bout of measles.” (5)
South Carolina senator proposes mandatory measles vaccines for students,https://www.live5news.com/2026/02/07/south-carolina-senator-proposes-mandatory-measles-vaccines-students/
Prisma Health tightens masking rules in South Carolina hospitals in response to measles, https://www.wyff4.com/article/prisma-health-cdc-measles-outbreak-masks/70248271
Measles Is Causing Brain Swelling in Children in South Carolina., https://www.wired.com/story/measles-is-causing-brain-swelling-in-children-in-south-carolina/
“Since measles vaccination became common among Americans, the logic of outbreaks has been simple: When vaccination rates fall, infections rapidly rise; when vaccination rates increase, cases abate. The United States is currently living out the first half of that maxim.
Measles-vaccination rates have been steadily declining for several years; since last January, the country has logged its two largest measles epidemics in more than three decades. The second of those, still ballooning in South Carolina, is over 875 cases and counting. In April, measles may be declared endemic in the U.S. again, 26 years after elimination.
When and if the maxim’s second part—a rebound in vaccination—might manifest “is the key question,” Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told me. Experts anticipate a shift eventually. Vaccine coverage has often been beholden to a kind of homeostatic pull, in which it dips and then ricochets in response to death and suffering. In 2022, for instance, in the weeks after polio paralyzed an unvaccinated man in Rockland County, New York, the families of more than 1,000 under-vaccinated children heeded advice to immunize.” (6)
1.Dr. Oz urges ‘take the vaccine, please’ amid measles outbreaks, by Sara Moniuszko, https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2026/02/09/dr-mehmet-oz-measles-vaccine/88586905007/
2.‘Take the vaccine, please,’ Dr Oz urges amid rising measles cases in US, by Marina Dunbar, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/08/dr-mehmet-oz-measles-vaccine
3.US experiencing largest measles outbreak since 2000—5 essential reads on the risks, what to do and what’s coming next, edited by Gaby Clark, https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-experiencing-largest-measles-outbreak-essential.html
4.Rep. Tony Gonzales defends conditions at Texas detention center with measles outbreak, By Ibrahim Aksoy, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tony-gonzales-dilley-detention-facility-conditions-measles/
5.What to Know About Measles as the Virus Spreads, By Dani Blum and Teddy Rosenbluth, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/well/measles-symptoms-vaccine.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
6.The Only Thing That Will Turn Measles Back, By Katherine J. Wu, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/02/measles-vaccination-rebound-when/685889/
curated by Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.
Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai