Measles cases continue to rise – this is worrying. The good news is that there is a super effective vaccine that protects you and your loved ones.

Note – we use data from both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Brown University Pandemic Center’s weekly tracking report. While the CDC tracks confirmed cases only, the Pandemic Center tracks both probable and confirmed cases using publicly available data from state health departments. (Numbers below are correct as of March 13, 2026).

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Americans’ trust in federal vaccine recommendations declines markedly under Trump

One in three Americans trust childhood vaccine guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics more than the CDC’s recommendations, a new poll finds

Just six in 10 Americans trust the federal government’s childhood vaccine recommendations, a new poll finds. That marks a notable drop from June 2025, when 71 percent of poll respondents said they trusted the government’s vaccine guidance. The greatest decline was among Democrats—from 81 percent to 66 percent—although Republicans’ and Independents’ trust also waned.
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In March 2020, the World Health Organization’s director-general declared COVID-19 a pandemic, saying the agency was “deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.” Since the virus emerged six years ago, the disease has taken the lives of more than 7 million people, according to data tracked by KFF, a health research organization. COVID infections have left hundreds of millions of people with long COVID, a complex and chronic condition.

“We’re going to have more pandemics,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, noting that data shows that the chances of future pandemics and the frequency with which they could occur are increasing.

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Recently, the Trump administration offered $20 billion to provide re-insurance coverage for vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz amid conflict in the Middle East. Yet, closer to home, there is an immediate public health threat posed by the resurgence of measles, a serious disease once under control that needs federal support.

Measles outbreaks are a medical and systems issue, emerging from vaccination behavior, public trust, health policy and the capacity of the public health infrastructure to handle increasing demands. One can rightfully ask whether the idea of federal support for emergency economic issues should also apply to the costs associated with measles.
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In the three decades between 1993 and 2024, measles in the U.S. was relatively rare – a few hundred cases each year, at most. But suddenly, the disease has become so entrenched in American life that it sometimes fails to make headlines when a new outbreak erupts.

As of March 2026, measles has been continuously circulating around the U.S. for more than a year, starting with an outbreak in Texas that lasted from January to August 2025. Before that outbreak was declared over, an outbreak on the Utah and Arizona border began in August and is ongoing. An outbreak in South Carolina began in September, drastically increased in January 2026, and continues.

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South Plains, Texas, had long declared its measles outbreak over when in January wastewater testing picked up what Zachary Holbrooks called “a blip, a spike.”

The testing found measles after months without traces of the virus, which by the 2025 West Texas outbreak’s end infected over 750 people, hospitalized nearly a hundred, and two children died.

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In the year that US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been in office, his agency has made unprecedented changes to the childhood immunization schedule, removing universal recommendations for a half-dozen vaccines in favor of “shared clinical decisionmaking.”

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Measles outbreak erupts in one of U.S.’s largest ICE detention centers

Camp East Montana, one of the largest immigration detention facilities in the U.S., has reported 14 confirmed measles infections, triggering the El Paso center to close to visitors

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Experts say that the Trump administration has failed to take obvious steps to contain the spread of measles, which is continuing to accelerate in the United States as the number of cases has climbed past 1,000.

The administration has revealed a relaxed attitude toward the highly contagious virus both in terms of messaging and funding allocation, experts said.
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Heard about a lot of people getting flu this winter but not much about covid?


It’s not just you. For the second winter in a row, the United States has faced a punishing flu season, with covid as a more muted threat.

Early in the covid pandemic, coronavirus proved far more transmissible and deadly as it ripped through the world than the flu typically was. Flu was almost nonexistent that first pandemic winter in 2020-2021.

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When we gather indoors and exhale CO2, levels can rapidly rise and impair our cognitive function, even at levels that are pretty typical for indoor buildings in the US. But solutions are surprisingly cheap and easy! Today I'm joined by Dr. Georgia Lagoudas PhD, MIT grad and Senior Fellow and faculty at Brown University’s School of Public Health, where she brings extensive expertise in biosecurity and indoor air quality. She leads the at Brown, advancing policy and implementation projects to improve indoor air quality.

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