Hawk
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Making Measles Great Again - US Is About to Lose Its Measles Elimination Status
Posted
July 23, 2026
Views
7,508
Likes
1,066
Comments
291
Engagement
18.07%
July 23, 2026
7,508
1,066
291
18.07%
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23:40Now PlayingMaking Measles Great Again - US Is About to Lose Its Measles Elimination Status
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The United States has logged more than 2,260 confirmed measles cases in 2026 through July 23rd, nearly matching all of 2025, putting this on pace to be the worst year since measles was declared eliminated here in 2000. Hawk walks through the data and explains what losing elimination status actually means. Roughly 90 percent of cases trace to communities with low vaccination coverage.
The geography tells the story. South Carolina saw more than a thousand cases centered on an insular religious community in Spartanburg County. Utah is now the epicenter with 441 cases across 22 of its 29 counties, tied partly to an FLDS community, though state officials point to statewide erosion of coverage rather than any single enclave. National kindergarten MMR coverage has fallen from 95.2 percent in 2020 to 92.5 percent in 2025, below the herd immunity threshold, and religious exemptions have risen roughly fivefold since 2010.
The heart of the video is Amy Maxmen's Wired piece, in which six Utah pediatricians describe treating these children: the labored breathing, the barking cough, the spinal taps to check for meningitis. Hawk is candid about his own frustration with parents who declined vaccination and then beg doctors to save their child, and he keeps returning to the fact that the kids had no say.
#Measles #Utah #RFKJr #Vaccines #MMR #PublicHealth #Wired #AmyMaxmen #Pediatricians #HerdImmunity #SouthCarolina #Texas #ACIP #Vaccination #Outbreak #CDC #Health #News #Politics #Hawk
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