On November 10, 2025, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) revoked Canada’s measles elimination status. More than 5,000 cases have been reported since the outbreak began in October 2024. Canada has failed to control the measles epidemic for a quarter of a century. The United States may soon join its neighbors to the north in this disgraceful designation, thanks to a resurgence of the anti-vaccine movement given new influence with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Measles is the most contagious disease known to science. If 10 unvaccinated people are in a room with an infected person, 9 people will become infected. In 2025, 12% of the more than 1,700 measles cases in the United States were hospitalized, with the highest rate at 22% in children under 5 years of age. Three people died in the United States and two in Canada. Complications include pneumonia, encephalitis, hearing loss, and in rare cases, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a fatal neurological disease. Measles also has the insidious ability to cause “immune amnesia,” whereby the immune response to other pathogens is erased by the virus, leaving people susceptible to conditions to which they were once immune.
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Elizabeth Jacobs is an epidemiologist and professor emeritus at the University of Arizona and a founding member of the advocacy group Defend Public Health.
James Alwine is a virologist, professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, visiting professor at the University of Arizona, fellow of the American Society for Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Coordinating Committee to Protect Public Health.
The situation worsened when Senate Republicans confirmed Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services, despite the opposition of tens of thousands of scientists, medical professionals, and public health workers. Kennedy is an avowed anti-vaxxer who previously served as president of Children’s Health Defense, an organization that regularly spreads vaccine misinformation. He is also a conspiracy theorist, claiming that COVID-19 is a “biological weapon” created to “attack white and black people” while helping Ashkenazi Jews. WiFi causes brain tumors. And the cause of AIDS is drug use, not HIV. His appointment paves the way for anti-vaccination advocates to be installed in public health leadership positions, including replacing members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices with figures with ties to the anti-vaccination movement. In confirming Kennedy, Senate Republicans completely failed the American people’s expectations and demonstrated a brazen disregard for decades of scientific achievements.
Over the past two decades, Kennedy has been a major influence on the anti-vaccination movement. Now, his powerful position as Secretary of Health and Human Services gives him even more influence. His promotion of skepticism about science and medicine has left many parents confused and afraid to vaccinate their children, while others have joined his campaign in fervent distrust. This distrust can be used to justify irrational and harmful actions, such as cutting funding for mRNA vaccine research. And the ripple effects of Kennedy’s actions are energizing anti-vaccination movements around the world. That’s why Canada and the United States are currently experiencing the highest number of measles cases in more than 20 years.
Kennedy must be removed from office.
Additionally, an undervaccinated population undermines national security. A 2023 Department of Defense report specifically identified COVID-19 vaccine misinformation as a threat to military readiness because it undermines acceptance and compliance with disease prevention and mitigation policies. The report further emphasized the importance of a robust vaccination research program by the government to avoid outbreaks of preventable diseases that undermine national security.
As the anti-vaccination movement continues to be nurtured by Kennedy and his followers, this threat will only continue to grow and become more serious. Eliminating state vaccine requirements for admission, as happened in Florida, exemplifies this and represents an unacceptable risk.
Given these risks, what can be done to stop the anti-vaccination movement and the dangers that come with it?Most importantly, as we wrote in our report to the public health advocacy group Defend Public Health, Mr. Kennedy must be removed from office. As long as he continues his destructive rule, there will be no improvement in public health or vaccination rates.
Social media and legacy media companies must take meaningful and effective steps to stop the devastating spread of misinformation on their platforms. But they have no real incentive to do so, as sensational health claims with no basis in fact are a major driver of engagement, and thus profits.
As Greg Gonsalves pointed out in a recent article in The Nation, we must combat these efforts by building a massive movement to support and protect public health. Now is the time for stakeholders to come together by monitoring and taking action to thwart state-level efforts to undermine vaccines. Finally, the American people must elect representatives who will better manage the health of their people, their communities, their nation, and ultimately the entire world. Recent elections in November 2025 suggest that Americans are already making changes at the polls. Public pressure can help push public health to the forefront.
Opinion on Live Science provides insight into the most important issues in science that affect you and the world around you today, written by experts in the field and leading scientists.
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