New York has declared a measles emergency. Next door, Pennsylvania has passed 1,000 cases
What happened
On Monday 5 October 2026, the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, signed an executive order declaring a state disaster emergency because of measles. It runs until 4 November. New York is the first US state to declare a measles emergency since cases began climbing in 2025. New York itself has not had the worst of it. The state has recorded 108 measles cases in 2026, up to 3 October. Seven were in New York City and 101 were elsewhere in the state. Most are recent: 92 cases since 15 July, in a small number of rural communities where not enough people are vaccinated. The bigger outbreak is next door. Pennsylvania passed 1,000 cases on Monday. State health officials put the total at 1,004, spread across 39 counties. At least 198 people have been admitted to hospital. Five people have died. Among them were two unvaccinated adults, aged 18 and 40, and two babies who were too young to have had the vaccine yet. Lancaster County has been hit hardest, with 391 confirmed cases. That makes Pennsylvania's outbreak the largest in any US state for more than thirty years. Across the whole of the United States, more than 3,800 cases have been confirmed in 2026, in 45 states and Washington DC. That is the highest yearly total since 1991. The emergency order is mostly about making it easier to get vaccinated and tested. It lets registered nurses order measles tests. It allows pharmacists to vaccinate children as young as two. And it requires MMR vaccinations to be reported to state registries within 72 hours, so officials can see where the gaps are.
Why this matters
This is happening about 3,000 miles away. So why should anyone in Lincolnshire pay attention? Because measles does not respect distance, and because the UK is not in a strong position. Measles is one of the most contagious diseases we know of. It spreads through the air when someone coughs or breathes, and the virus can linger in a room after that person has left. If you are not protected and you share air with someone infectious, you are very likely to catch it. That is why it finds pockets of unvaccinated people so quickly, and why an outbreak can go from a handful of cases to a thousand in months. It is also not a trivial illness. Nearly 200 people in hospital and five deaths make that plain. Two of those deaths were babies too young to be vaccinated. That is the part worth sitting with: very young babies cannot protect themselves. They rely on everyone around them being protected instead. The UK angle is uncomfortable. In January 2026, the World Health Organization announced that the UK had lost its measles elimination status, based on 2,911 laboratory-confirmed cases in England in 2024, the highest annual figure since 2012. That is a formal way of saying measles is circulating here again, rather than only arriving from abroad. Behind it sits a long decline in vaccination. Second-dose MMR coverage stood at 84.4% in 2024. The World Health Organization's threshold for keeping measles out of a community is 95%. The gap between those two numbers is where outbreaks live.
What the evidence actually says
It is worth being careful here, because measles stories can tip quickly into alarm. The evidence says something more specific than "be frightened". First, the vaccine is doing its job where people have had it. In Pennsylvania, fewer than 1% of the state's cases were in people who were fully vaccinated with two doses of MMR. Put the other way round, almost everyone caught up in the largest US outbreak in thirty years was unvaccinated or only partly vaccinated. That is about as clear a real-world result as public health data gets. Second, outbreaks follow gaps, not geography. Both the New York and Pennsylvania clusters have grown in particular communities where uptake is low, rather than spreading evenly. A national average of 84% can hide neighbourhoods sitting far below that. Your own area matters more than the headline figure. Third, and this is the part that rarely makes headlines: England's own numbers have been improving. The UK Health Security Agency recorded 1,003 laboratory-confirmed measles cases in England between 1 January and 14 September 2026. More than half of this year's cases have been in London. In September, UKHSA moved from publishing those figures every fortnight to publishing them monthly, specifically because case numbers had fallen significantly. That is a genuinely good sign, and it deserves saying out loud. So the honest summary is this. The US outbreak is serious and getting worse. England's current wave has been easing. But our underlying protection is still well below where it needs to be, which means we have less of a buffer than we should if measles arrives in a community with low uptake. The American figures are a useful picture of what that looks like when it goes wrong.
Qurexa perspective
We should be straight about what we do and do not do. Qurexa delivers prescriptions and groceries, and supports people in keeping on top of their medicines. We do not give vaccinations. But the thing we see every week is relevant. A great many missed appointments are not about doubt or refusal. They are about logistics. A parent working shifts who cannot get to a surgery during opening hours. An older person who no longer drives. Someone already juggling four appointments this month who quietly lets the fifth slide. When we ask customers in Lincolnshire why something did not happen, "I didn't want to" is far rarer than "I couldn't get there". That is worth remembering when coverage figures are discussed as if they were purely a matter of belief. A good share of that missing 10% is a transport and timing problem wearing the costume of a confidence problem. It is also why one detail in New York's order stood out to us: it lets pharmacists vaccinate younger children. Pharmacies are often open longer and sit closer to home. Making something easier to do in the place people already go usually beats asking them to care harder.
Practical advice
None of this needs a dramatic response. It needs one small, dull administrative task. **Check whether you and your children have had two doses.** For a child, look in the red book (the personal child health record). For yourself, your GP practice holds the record and can tell you. Two doses are needed for full protection; one is not enough. A surprising number of adults who believe they are covered turn out to have had only one. **If you are behind, you can catch up at any age.** MMR is free on the NHS and there is no upper age limit. You do not need to explain or apologise for a gap in your record. Ring your GP practice and ask to book the missing dose. **Know what to look for.** Measles usually starts like a bad cold: high temperature, runny nose, sore red eyes, a cough. The blotchy rash normally appears a few days later, often starting on the face and behind the ears before spreading. **If you think it is measles, phone ahead.** Do not simply turn up at your GP surgery, pharmacy or A&E, because measles spreads easily in waiting rooms and you may expose someone who cannot be vaccinated. Call your GP practice or NHS 111 first and say you suspect measles. **If you are travelling to the United States,** check your MMR doses are up to date before you go. **Be careful around new babies.** Babies cannot have their first MMR dose until around their first birthday. If you are visiting a newborn and are unsure of your own status, that is a good moment to get it checked.
What to know
New York has declared a measles disaster emergency running to 4 November, after 108 cases in the state this year. The far larger outbreak is in neighbouring Pennsylvania, which has passed 1,000 cases, with at least 198 people hospitalised and five deaths, including two babies too young to be vaccinated. It is the largest state outbreak in the US in more than three decades. Fewer than 1% of Pennsylvania's cases were in people fully vaccinated with two doses of MMR. Closer to home, the UK lost its WHO measles elimination status in January 2026, and second-dose MMR coverage of 84.4% sits well short of the 95% needed to keep measles out. England has recorded 1,003 confirmed cases so far in 2026, though the rate has slowed enough that UKHSA has reduced how often it publishes updates. The useful action is small: check your family's records, and book the missing dose if there is one. It is free, available at any age, and it is the single thing that decides which side of those statistics you are on. Sources: Governor of New York, "Governor Hochul Declares State Disaster Emergency in Response to Measles Outbreak", 5 October 2026, https://www.governor.ny.gov/news ; ABC News, "Measles cases surpass 1,000 in Pennsylvania amid the state's largest outbreak in decades", 5 October 2026, https://abcnews.com/Health/measles-cases-surpass-1000-pennsylvania-outbreak-continues-spread/story?id=137002024 ; NBC News, "New York declares first US measles disaster emergency since 2025 surge", 6 October 2026, https://nbcnews.com/health/health-news/new-york-declares-first-us-measles-disaster-emergency-2025-surge-rcna601810 ; UK Health Security Agency, "Measles", UKHSA data dashboard, accessed 6 October 2026, https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/topics/measles ; London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, "Rapid Reaction: UK loses measles elimination status", 26 January 2026, https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2026/rapid-reaction-uk-loses-measles-elimination-status This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist, nurse or other qualified healthcare professional. If you think you or your child may have measles, phone your GP practice or NHS 111 before attending in person.
Related articles
Six hours, not never: the ICU filter notice the MHRA issued today
The UK's medicines and devices regulator has issued a new safety notice to hospitals, and it is about timing. On 13 October 2026 the Medicines and Healthcare p…
Eight pages to a minister: what the data guardian says trust is worth
On 12 October 2026, the government published a letter about who should be trusted with NHS patient data. It was written by Dr Nicola Byrne, the National Data G…
Update: the tests came back, and it was not plague
This is a follow-up to a story we covered on 5 October, when nearly 200 people were being monitored after the death of a laboratory worker in Siberia. There has…