Daniel Wolfram
There is more and more evidence of a measles outbreak in the US after the disease was deemed gone in 2000.
Recent federal figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that South Carolina has logged 670 measles cases in 2026.
Only Pennsylvania has recorded a higher total across the country. That puts South Carolina at number two on a list no state wants to lead.
The sheer volume highlights how quickly preventable illnesses can spread. Public health experts note that outbreaks often accelerate long before local communities realize the threat in their neighborhoods.
Parents caught unaware
In local neighborhoods, parents knew almost nothing about the rising tally. When presented with the data, two mothers from the state confessed that the statistics caught them completely off guard.
“I didn’t even know that was a stat, to be honest,” Kali Bremner told the local news station WRDW.
Another parent shared a similar reaction to the news. “I didn’t either, but I feel like we’re worried in general anyway, so now that you said that, yes,” Scottie Ernest said.
Both women confirmed that their own children are vaccinated. Vaccines have become something of a hot-button topic after Trump won and appointed a well-known vaccine skeptic.
An eliminated virus returns
While the United States Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was the keynote speaker at an anti-vaccination conference he co-founded, there is a growing outbreak of measles in more and more US states.
Before RFK Jr. became Secretary of Health, measles was officially “declared eliminated from the country in 2000,” according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
At the anti-vaccine conference, RFK Jr. touched on the subject of a measles outbreak, where he seemed to diminish the effect of the vaccine.
“We care about every child who dies from measles. They get headlines. Shouldn’t we ask, I’d ask you, do you care about children who are dying or suffering or being injured by vaccine injuries?”
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A friend in the White House
Ever since RFK Jr. became the Health Secretary, he has advocated for fewer vaccines to be administered to Americans, as he is a well-known anti-vaccine advocate.
He even declared that the anti-vaxxers had a “strong and steadfast friend at the White House” at the same conference, which was held in Washington, D.C., some weeks ago, according to The Guardian.
RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine agenda has drawn a lot of criticism from every corner of the medical world. Dr. David Elliman, a consultant in child health from London, has called his crusade against vaccines an “utter disregard for the evidence.”
“I fear not just for the vaccination programme in the US, but similar programmes around the world, and for healthcare in general,” said Dr. Elliman to the BBC when RFK Jr. was first appointed by President Trump.
