“Awfully coincidental”: Review of US measles status delayed seven months

A key meeting to decide whether the U.S. will maintain its designation as free of measles has been delayed until November, the New York Times reports.

The review, convened by the Pan American Health Organization and led by health experts, was supposed to be held in April. At the meeting, a panel would determine if the U.S. could keep its measles-free status. The status is granted to nations that have not had a continuous spread of measles within one year.

U.S. health officials requested that the meeting be delayed until November, according to Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon. Officially, the delay is to give the agency more time to collect and analyze data from the ongoing nationwide measles outbreak.

Pan American Health Organization spokesman Sebastián Oliel said the delay was due to the “extent of the analysis” being conducted by the CDC in the midst of multiple outbreaks.

Dr. Walter Orenstein, a member of the committee that reviews measles reports, questioned the delay.

“I don’t see why a delay of that long would be needed,” he told The Times. “It is awfully coincidental, with the midterm elections.”

Columbia University Director of Science Communication Lucky Tran criticized U.S. officials for the delay.

“This is a reckless, accountability-dodging move that puts politics over public health,” he said in a post on X.

Nearly 2,300 measles cases were reported in 2025, with another 1,136 cases in the first few months of 2026, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control. It is the worst year for measles cases in the U.S. in more than two decades, since it was officially eliminated in 2000.

South Carolina has been hit especially hard, with roughly 990 cases reported through yesterday. The vast majority of those infected were children who were not vaccinated against measles.

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