West Texas is the epicenter of the largest outbreak in the country, while the number of cases nationally has topped 800.
Amid the surge in cases, a new survey from health policy research group KFF found measles misinformation is also rising and more Americans are being exposed to it.
The survey showed 33 percent of respondents had “heard” or “read” the false claim that “getting the measles vaccine is more dangerous than becoming infected with measles.” That's compared to 18 percent who reported hearing the claim in 2024, according to the tracking poll.
Knowledge about the outbreak is also highly polarized. About two-thirds of Republican-leaning parents said they were unaware of an uptick in measles cases this year, while about two-thirds of Democratic ones said they knew about it, according to the latest poll.
About 35 percent of Republicans in the survey said they thought the discredited theory linking the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism was definitely or probably true — compared with just 10 percent of Democrats.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary touted the MMR vaccine in a Wednesday interview on CNN, though stopped short of saying that parents should go get their kids the shot.
“Vaccines save lives, and any child who dies from a vaccine preventable disease is a tragedy,” Makary said in an interview with Dana Bash.
When asked directly if parents should vaccinate their children, Makary said, “I believe in the MMR shot.”
Nearly all the cases in Texas are among unvaccinated individuals.
Two unvaccinated children in Texas have died from measles, and the death of one unvaccinated adult in New Mexico has been linked to the outbreak. The adult tested positive for measles, but the official cause of death is still under investigation. The children had no known underlying conditions.
The West Texas outbreak has predominantly centered among members of a local Mennonite community.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official last week said more than 90 percent of the cases are “driven by transmission in close-knit, undervaccinated communities.”
