As Measles Cases Rise, Experts Fear Spring Break Spread
Two cases have already been linked to air travel — here’s what families need to know about staying safe.
With vaccination rates declining since measles was declared eradicated in the US in 2000, cases of the highly contagious, sometimes deadly disease have been on the rise. In 2025, measles has been reported in at least 13 states as of press time, with an outbreak of more than 200 affecting under-vaccinated communities in Texas and New Mexico. As spring break approaches for schools across the country, experts fear the possibility of the virus spreading throughout the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) update information on their website every Friday where, at least count (March 6), there were 222 cases in 12 districts, including Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington. On March 11, Associated Press confirmed 250 cases in Texas and New Mexico alone as well as 2 deaths. The Washington Post reports three cases in new locations — Maryland, Los Angeles County, and New York’s Suffolk County.
The Maryland and Los Angles cases are specifically tied to travel, with infected children traveling through Dulles Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, putting everyone in those high-traffic areas at risk. It’s a danger troubling health officials, especially in Texas, where numbers remain far higher than elsewhere. In Dallas and Forth Worth, health departments have redoubled vaccination and education efforts to best protect their communities.
At the federal level, Health and Human Services Director Robert Kennedy Jr. has released seemingly contradictory statements regarding the outbreak. Earlier this month, Kennedy praised the MMR vaccine as an effective tool in protecting children and communities from the measles. However, during a March 11 interview with Sean Hannity, he appeared to suggest —inaccurately — that exposure to the virus via infection was more beneficial than vaccination.
“The measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection,” he told Hannity, continuing. “The vaccine doesn’t do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but for many people it wanes.” He also told the Fox News host — again, inaccurately — that the vaccine wanes approximately 4.5% per year. “That means older people are, essentially, unvaccinated.”
According to research published in The Lancet last year, the MMR vaccine appears to wane by approximately .04% per year. That means that if a child is fully vaccinated at 4 years old, by the time they are 100, the vaccine will have declined from 97% efficacy to about 93% efficacy.
While more than 90% children and an even higher percentage of adults are immunized against measles — either from vaccination or childhood exposure prior to the availability of a vaccine in 1963 — the danger of measles is in its reach. Among unvaccinated people, 9 in 10 exposed to the virus will become infected and will be similarly contagious for four days prior to the illness’ trademark red Koplik spots.
There is no standard treatment protocol or cure for measles, and no way to tell who will be likely to develop complications such as encephalitis, a swelling of the brain that can cause permanent damage, including memory loss, epilepsy, emotional problems, and personality and behavioral changes. One in 20 infected children will develop pneumonia, and between one and three people infected will die.
Children are generally given the first dose of their two dose MMR vaccine (one that protects against measles, mumps, and rubella) between 12 and 15 months, leaving infants particularly susceptible to the virus. Fortunately, just one dose provides very good protection (93%) and two doses, given between 4 and 6 years old, will boost that immunity to 97% protection. Indeed, per the CDC, 98% of their reported cases were found among unvaccinated and under-vaccinated individuals.
How to stay safe during spring break travel
The very best way to stay safe during this outbreak, and throughout the future, is to get vaccinated and to vaccinate your kids.
If individuals remain concerned about their immunity against the measles, health records will generally indicate whether you were immunized at any point. If you can’t find those records, or just want to be extra careful, there are simple tests that will detect antibodies and let your healthcare provider know if you could use a booster shot. The one population for whom health experts suggest extra caution are individuals born between 1963 and 1968, a period when some children received a less effective version of the vaccine.
The most at-risk populations are infants who are not yet vaccinated, those with health and immune conditions, pregnant women, and seniors. Those who have been vaccinated are at very low risk and have no reason to alter spring break or travel plans.
