NEW YORK (AFP) - New York state has declared a disaster emergency over an outbreak of measles, as cases of the disease that had once been all but eliminated in the United States continue to rise.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that she was temporarily expanding the ability of health professionals to administer measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccines.
“No one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease,” Hochul said in a statement, adding that New York has recorded 108 cases of measles this year, as of October 3. The declaration will remain in effect through November 4.
Hochul’s announcement marks the first such declaration since measles cases began to tick up in 2025. She said that seven cases were recorded in New York City and 101 elsewhere in the state.
Hochul’s declaration says 92 cases have been recorded since July 15 in a handful of rural communities with insufficient vaccination rates.
Officials in neighboring Pennsylvania also announced that the state has surpassed 1,000 measles cases this year, the largest outbreak in the US in the last three decades. Outbreaks have also been recorded in Texas, Utah, Ohio and South Carolina.
Health experts attribute the resurgence to a decline in vaccination rates below the 95 percent rate they say is necessary to prevent outbreaks.
Critics say the decline has been spurred by an anti-vaccination movement that has surged in popularity and gained advocates inside the administration of President Donald Trump, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
The U.S. had eliminated the domestic spread of measles by 2000, with the last outbreak of more than 1,000 cases occurring over several years in New York City in the early 1990s.
International officials from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) are set to meet in November to determine whether the US and Mexico will retain their measles-free status, or whether the public health designations will be updated.
“PAHO reiterates the importance of maintaining high and homogeneous vaccination coverage, strengthening epidemiological surveillance, and ensuring timely outbreak response, as essential pillars to halt transmission and sustain measles elimination in the countries of the Americas,” the organization said in a previous statement.