U.S. measles infections have soared to 1,288 so far this year, topping the full-year total recorded in 2019 and marking the highest annual count since 1992, according to newly released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The mid-year figure, reached on 9 July, eclipses every yearly total since the virus was declared eliminated domestically in 2000. Nearly two-thirds of cases stem from a prolonged outbreak in West Texas that began in January and spread into Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. Texas alone has logged about 753 infections. Nationwide, the virus has been confirmed in 39 states, hospitalising at least 162 people and killing three—two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico. Public-health officials attribute the resurgence to falling childhood immunisation rates and pockets of vaccine hesitancy. National coverage with the two-dose measles-mumps-rubella shot slipped to 92.7 % among kindergarteners in the 2023-24 school year, below the 95 % threshold needed to block transmission. Vaccination rates in some West Texas counties are below 85 %. The CDC warned that continued spread could cost the United States its measles-elimination status, which requires no uninterrupted domestic transmission for 12 months. The agency reiterated that the MMR vaccine is 97 % effective and remains the most reliable tool to prevent outbreaks.