Meeting to determine US measles elimination status pushed back to November
By Deidre McPhillips, CNN
(CNN) — An international meeting to determine the status of measles elimination in the United States has been delayed seven months, from its original date in mid-April until sometime in November.
Measles has been considered to be eliminated in the US since 2000, meaning local transmission of the virus had not persisted for more than a year. But large outbreaks last year led to a record number of cases, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported multiple new cases each week since late January 2025. If the major outbreak that started in West Texas is linked to later transmission – such as an ongoing outbreak in South Carolina – the US could lose that elimination status.
In January 2026, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a regional office of the World Health Organization, announced that it planned to convene the Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission for Measles, Rubella, and Congenital Rubella Syndrome (RVC) for a special session April 13. The members planned to review detailed reports from both the US and Mexico, which has also had a deadly outbreak over the past year, to assess their measles elimination status.
All countries submit annual reports, and those with outbreaks must provide additional information, including updates about how the virus is being controlled.
“The meeting date has been set to give national health authorities and national sustainability committees sufficient time to prepare comprehensive reports, including descriptions and analyses with detailed epidemiological and laboratory evidence, for review by the Commission,” a PAHO media advisory said at the time.
But that April special session has been canceled, and the assessment will now happen during the commission’s regular annual meeting in November.
“This adjustment reflects the scope of analysis currently being undertaken by U.S. authorities, including complete virus genome sequencing and the development of a bioinformatics pipeline, alongside ongoing outbreak response efforts,” PAHO said in an email on Monday. “It is intended to simplify and standardize the assessment process across PAHO Member States.”
Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services, said Monday that the delay is not an indication that the analysis is taking longer than expected.
“CDC appreciates PAHO’s agreement to maintain the regular verification cycle. The additional time will allow for a thorough and transparent assessment of the 2025 measles outbreaks, including comprehensive genomic sequencing and advanced analysis,” Nixon said in an email. “We remain committed to actively supporting current outbreak responses through laboratory testing, technical assistance, and close coordination with state and local partners.”
Despite the delay, the timeline for the analysis of measles cases will remain the same: one year from the start of the major US outbreak on January 20, 2025, and on February 1, 2025, for Mexico.
But the US has already reported more than 1,100 measles cases in the first two months of 2026 — six times more than has been typical for an entire year since elimination, and on track to outpace last year’s record total of nearly 2,300 cases.
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