In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
As of July 16, 2026, 2,260 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. Among these, 2,245 measles cases were reported by 44 jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. A total of 15 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the United States.
There have been 34 new outbreaks** reported in 2026, and 93% of confirmed cases (2,108 of 2,260) are outbreak-associated (741 from outbreaks starting in 2026 and 1,367 from outbreaks that started in 2025).
In just a week or two, we are very likely to top last year's total of 2,289, for the greatest number of annual cases in 35 years.
At MedPage Today, Terrence Rudd reports:
[S]tudies on South Carolina and Utah's large outbreaks showed cases of encephalitis and sepsis among the hospitalized patients.
In both states, hypoxemia and pneumonia were the most common conditions leading to hospitalization for measles, with some admissions driven by electrolyte abnormalities, sepsis, and shock.
Two of 13 patients hospitalized in South Carolina developed measles encephalitis, which led to prolonged hospitalization for both and discharge to an inpatient rehabilitation facility for one patient, according to Katherine Richardson, MD, and colleagues from Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital in South Carolina, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine.
