America’s worst measles outbreak in 25 years has South Carolina calling for backup

State calls in outside disease experts

South Carolina asked the CDC Foundation to send at least 12 infectious disease experts to help fight a measles outbreak that has grown into the largest in the U.S. since 2000.

The Foundation is an independent nonprofit that Congress created to support the CDC through private donations and grants. Some staff started working in the state the week of Feb. 17, with more on the way.

State epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell said the Foundation option best fits the state’s staffing needs.

Why the Foundation, not the CDC itself?

This setup is unusual. Three former CDC officials told Reuters that the Foundation typically backs up CDC staff during outbreaks, not the other way around.

When Texas dealt with its own measles outbreak in 2025, the CDC sent at least 15 of its own people. Texas never requested Foundation help.

Bell explained that the CDC usually sends scientists for short stints of a few weeks, which doesn’t meet South Carolina’s need for longer daily support.

About 90 state health workers are already spending most of their time on the response.

Cases near 1,000 and keep climbing

South Carolina has confirmed 979 measles cases since the outbreak started on Oct. 2, 2025. Spartanburg County, in the Upstate region, accounts for about 95% of them.

The outbreak has already passed the 2025 Texas outbreak of 762 cases, making it the biggest the country has seen since measles was declared eliminated in 2000.

At least 21 people, both adults and children, have ended up in the hospital with complications. No deaths have been reported.

Unvaccinated children make up most cases

About 95% of patients had no vaccination or an unknown vaccination history. Roughly 90% of cases involve children, and about 26% of those are kids under 5 years old.

More than two-thirds of all cases have hit children ages 5 to 17.

South Carolina requires two doses of the MMR vaccine for school entry from kindergarten through 12th grade, but the numbers show many families have not followed through.

Vaccination rates slipped below the safety line

The state’s kindergarten MMR vaccination rate dropped from about 95% in the 2019-2020 school year to roughly 92% in recent years.

Public health experts say 95% is the threshold needed to keep measles from spreading, because the virus is one of the most contagious diseases known. Spartanburg County fell even further behind.

Only about 90% of students there had required shots in the 2024-2025 school year, among the lowest rates in the state. Some individual schools reported rates well below that.

Families are lining up for shots now

The outbreak has pushed vaccination numbers up fast.

In January 2026, providers gave more than 16,800 measles vaccine doses statewide, a 72% jump over January 2025.

Spartanburg County saw an even bigger surge, with vaccinations up 162% compared to the same month a year earlier.

The South Carolina Department of Public Health has also sent a Mobile Health Unit into affected communities to offer free MMR shots. Bell urged unvaccinated residents to take advantage of those resources.

Federal funding cuts left a gap

South Carolina’s public health department lost about $100 million in federal funding in 2025 after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ended billions of dollars in COVID-era grants nationwide.

Some of that money had supported childhood vaccinations and lab testing for infectious diseases. Bell said her agency tapped CDC crisis response funds to hire temporary staff for case investigations.

HHS sent $1.4 million in January 2026 to help with the measles response, but the earlier cuts had already strained the state’s capacity.

Politics played a role in the approach

Gov. Henry McMaster has championed personal choice on vaccines during the outbreak.

Childhood vaccination rates in the state have dropped in recent years as some political leaders and parents pushed back against COVID-era restrictions and vaccine mandates.

Dan Jernigan, a former director of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, told Reuters that requesting Foundation help instead of CDC staff “may be more politically acceptable” given those tensions.

Bell said her agency determined its own staffing needs.

CDC has no permanent director right now

The CDC hasn’t had a permanent director since August 2025, when HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired Senate-confirmed director Susan Monarez after less than a month.

Monarez said she was removed for refusing to approve vaccine guidance changes without proper review. Jim O’Neill served as acting director from August 2025 until he left the role in February 2026.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya now serves as acting CDC director while also running the NIH.

HHS says it keeps working with South Carolina

HHS said the CDC continues to investigate how the virus is spreading and holds regular coordination meetings with state health officials. The department also said vaccination remains the best way to prevent measles.

Bell credited the CDC with helping with testing, clinical advice, and free vaccines. The state has also used CDC crisis response funds to bring on temporary staff for outbreak-related work.

Measles cases are rising across the country

South Carolina’s outbreak is the biggest, but it’s far from the only one. The CDC confirmed 982 measles cases nationally in 2026 as of Feb. 19, spread across 26 states.

The full year of 2025 saw about 2,281 confirmed cases, the most since 1991, including three deaths. Other active outbreaks continue along the Arizona-Utah border and in Florida and Washington state.

The Pan American Health Organization may consider pulling the U.S. measles elimination status, which the country earned in 2000.

What losing elimination status would mean

Measles elimination means there has been no continuous local spread for more than 12 months. Before 2025, the U.S. averaged about 180 cases a year since earning that status.

Only 10 states and Washington, D.C. have maintained at least 95% kindergarten MMR vaccination coverage.

The MMR vaccine is widely available at doctors’ offices, pharmacies, and health departments, and many families can get it free through insurance or the Vaccines for Children program.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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