The resurgence of measles in the US is largely driven by vaccine refusal
The resurgence of measles in the United States is strongly driven by vaccine hesitancy and refusal, which reduce community immunity and fuel outbreaks.
Multiple epidemiological reviews and studies consistently point to vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, and parental refusal as the primary drivers behind declining MMR vaccination rates and subsequent measles outbreaks in the United States. None of the provided papers refute this consensus.
N. Lo, P. Hotez. Public Health and Economic Consequences of Vaccine Hesitancy for Measles in the United States. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.1695
Predicts that minor reductions in MMR coverage driven by vaccine hesitancy will lead to a substantial increase in measles cases.
See more details
M. L. Novilla, Michael C. Goates, Alisha H. Redelfs, Mallory Quenzer, L. Novilla, Tyler Leffler, Christian A. Holt, R. Doria, Michael T. Dang, M. Hewitt, Emma Lind, Elizabeth Prickett, Katelyn Aldridge. Why Parents Say No to Having Their Children Vaccinated against Measles: A Systematic Review of the Social Determinants of Parental Perceptions on MMR Vaccine Hesitancy. 2023. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11050926
Identifies vaccine hesitancy, parental mistrust, and misinformation as core drivers of measles outbreaks and lower confidence.
Sarah A Mbaeyi, A. Cohn, Nancy E. Messonnier. A Call to Action: Strengthening Vaccine Confidence in the United States. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-0390
Attributes recent major measles outbreaks in the United States to chains of transmission in undervaccinated communities fueled by misinformation and refusal.
Majani Edward. Resurgence of measles in the United States: Examining the outbreak, vaccine hesitancy, and future directions.. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2026.2624148
Examines how declining national MMR vaccination coverage and vaccine hesitancy directly contribute to the growing number of measles outbreaks.
S. M, A. S. Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in the Age of Measles Resurgence: A Mini-Review. 2025. https://doi.org/10.23880/vvoa-16000178
Reports that the vast majority of recent measles cases occurred in unvaccinated individuals as MMR coverage fell below the herd immunity threshold.
Siddharth Kumar, Surender Singh, Vasu Bansal, Vasundhara Gupta, Rohit Jain. Unwelcome return: analyzing the recent rise of measles cases in the United States. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1080/08998280.2024.2384019
Highlights vaccine hesitancy alongside virus importation as a primary contributing factor to recent measles outbreaks in the US.
L. Klockow. From Misinformation to Policy Solutions: Teaching Herd Immunity and Vaccine Hesitancy through Real-World Case Studies of Measles Outbreaks. 2025. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2025.39
Analyzes the 2019 measles outbreak to demonstrate how vaccine hesitancy threatens herd immunity and causes resurgence.
Leila Wogick, S. Goyal. Challenges to Sustaining Measles Elimination: Transmission Dynamics, Immunity Gaps, and Resurgence in Post-Elimination Settings. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1093/rescon/vmag107
Links the resurgence of measles in post-elimination settings like the US to lower vaccination coverage, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation.
The paper trail · every fact has a biography
Challenge the receipt
Citation formatting by citeproc-js (Frank Bennett) and the Citation Style Language project. Source and licenses.
Terms · Privacy · How verdicts work · Dispute this receipt