How Did Measles Make a Comeback in the US?: QuickTake

Thanks to the introduction of a vaccine in 1963, measles was considered eliminated in the US in 2000. Yet the highly contagious disease has reemerged as a threat as declining vaccination rates have fueled outbreaks around the country. In Texas, an unvaccinated child died on Feb. 26 in the first reported US death from the disease in a decade. Other clusters of cases have occurred in recent years, including a large outbreak in New York State in 2019.

In recent years the virus has ignited outbreaks in the US when infected travelers — both American and international — introduced it ...