U.S. measles cases top 5,000 for 2026, the most since 1991, CDC data show

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 5,182 confirmed measles cases in the United States in 2026 as of Thursday, Nov. 5, according to the agency's measles data page, updated Nov. 6. The total includes 18 cases among international visitors; the other 5,164 were reported by 47 jurisdictions. The CDC says 4,993 cases, or 96%, are linked to outbreaks, and 43 new outbreaks have been reported this year. The agency counted 2,289 cases for all of 2025.¹

The CDC's historical data show 9,643 cases in 1991 and no year since then with more than 2,289, making the 2026 count the highest since 1991.¹ Al Jazeera first reported the milestone Saturday.² By age, the CDC data show 908 cases (18%) in children younger than 5, 2,104 (41%) in people 5 to 19 and 2,132 (41%) in adults 20 and older. Eleven percent of patients (562 of 5,182) were hospitalized.¹

Deaths: four in the CDC count, six in Pennsylvania

The CDC's page lists four measles deaths nationally this year and notes the number is subject to change.¹ Pennsylvania's Department of Health alone has confirmed six measles-associated deaths. It announced the sixth on Nov. 4, an unvaccinated Jefferson County resident. The department says the people who died lived in Jefferson (two), Lancaster (three) and Mifflin (one) counties. The same release reports 1,467 confirmed cases in 45 Pennsylvania counties so far this year.³

Under the department's definition, a death counts as measles-associated when a person with clinical signs of measles and a positive lab test dies within 30 days of symptom onset and the death was not caused by something unrelated, such as a car crash. The department said the Jefferson County death was reported to the CDC.³

Pennsylvania reported its first two measles deaths in August. Al Jazeera reported that the CDC first included those two deaths in its national tally, then removed them after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questioned whether measles caused or contributed to them.² The Washington Post reported in September that the CDC had excluded the Pennsylvania deaths from its weekly case-and-death tally.⁴ The CDC's page says the agency is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists on a standardized case definition for deaths due to measles.¹

What each side has said

In a social media post, Kennedy said the Pennsylvania deaths “may even have been altogether fabricated,” The Associated Press reported Aug. 31. The AP also reported that the state health department said it stands by its announcement.⁵

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told CNN in September that “RFK has reached down into his agency to take those names off the dashboard,” PhillyVoice reported. He described them as deaths certified as measles-associated by the state health department and by three coroners.⁶

An HHS spokesperson, Emily Hilliard, said of a death the CDC added to its count in late September that the National Center for Health Statistics “verified that the death occurred” and that “measles was listed as the underlying cause of death,” The Washington Post reported.⁴

Kindergarten vaccination

The CDC's SchoolVaxView data, updated Aug. 17, put MMR vaccine coverage among kindergartners at 92.4% for the 2025-26 school year, down from the year before. Exemptions from one or more required vaccines rose to 4.2% from 3.6%.⁷ The CDC's measles page says coverage was 95.2% in the 2019-20 school year.¹

What the records do not show

The CDC's page shows four deaths, marked as subject to change, while a data file the page loads, updated Nov. 5, says there have been seven confirmed measles deaths in 2026; the page does not explain the difference.¹ It also does not say which deaths its four include or how many involve Pennsylvania residents. Pennsylvania's Nov. 4 release does not give the CDC's count or explain any difference between the state and federal tallies. The CDC notes that its figures include only confirmed cases reported to it by noon each Thursday, so state counts may differ.