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PAHO panel reviews whether the U.S. has lost measles-free status
RTE News, carrying a Reuters report, said Pan American Health Organization experts meeting in Washington through Nov. 13 will advise whether the United States has lost measles-elimination status held since 2000.
Based on reporting by RTE News
Wire reporting: (Reuters, via RTE News)
A Pan American Health Organization panel of outside experts is meeting behind closed doors in Washington through Nov. 13 to recommend whether the United States has lost measles-elimination status, a designation PAHO granted in 2000, RTE News reported, carrying a Reuters account1.
PAHO asked all 35 member states in the Americas for measles status reports1. A PAHO spokesperson said Mexico and Bolivia are also under review because of prolonged outbreaks, that Director Jarbas Barbosa will make the final country-by-country decisions, and that a public determination is expected early next week1.
The review turns on whether measles transmission in the United States has continued without interruption for 12 months or longer, using epidemiological and laboratory evidence1. Noel Brewer, a University of North Carolina public health professor who chairs an independent U.S. measles advisory panel and presented a CDC status report to the PAHO experts, said a still-active Arizona-Utah outbreak that began in June 2025 likely meets that 12-month test, based on public data1. RTE, citing state and federal officials, said nearly 7,500 U.S. measles cases and 11 deaths have been reported since early 2025, and that U.S. infections this year have more than doubled compared with 20251.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said national vaccination rates had already declined before Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took office1. CDC Director Erica Schwartz said the agency works with states to contain outbreaks, including in communities with long-running low immunization, and that losing measles-free status would not change that work, including stressing the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine1. Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom recently lost measles-elimination status after World Health Organization expert reviews; the United States left WHO but remains in PAHO1. The PAHO recommendation has not been issued. Not medical advice.
