The CDC said the national case count surpassed 2019, when there were 1,274 cases for the year and the country almost lost its status of having eliminated the vaccine-preventable illness. That could happen this year if the virus has nonstop spread for 12 months.

The preservative, thimerosal, has long been used in certain vaccines that come in multi-dose vials, to prevent contamination as each dose is withdrawn.

Gavi is a public-private partnership including WHO, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation and the World Bank, and it is estimated that the vaccination programs have saved 18 million lives. The United States has long been one of its biggest supporters.

The American Academy of Pediatrics announced Wednesday that it would continue publishing its own vaccine schedule for children but now will do so independently of the ACIP, calling it “no longer a credible process.”

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week announced he would “retire” the entire panel that guides U.S. vaccine policy.

The Illinois Department of Public Health this week issued a statement after Kennedy removed all volunteer members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday dismissed an expert panel of vaccine advisers that has historically guided the federal government’s vaccine recommendations, saying the group is “plagued with conflicts of interest.”

Federal health officials issued new guidance last week on who should have the COVID-19 vaccine, and it no longer includes healthy children and healthy pregnant women.

In a 58-second video posted on social media, Kennedy said he removed COVID-19 shots from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for those groups. Some doctors and public health leaders called the move concerning and confusing.

The cases are the first to be diagnosed in Cook County since March 8, 2024, when an outbreak of measles that began in a Pilsen shelter for migrants sickened 67 people.

The case in Illinois is not considered an outbreak and the risk of measles transmission for the general public in the state remains low, according to IDPH.

States with active outbreaks include Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and New Mexico. The U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024.

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s efforts to contain an epidemic in a tight-knit, religious community in West Texas have run counter to established public health strategies deployed to end past epidemics.

The U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024, with Texas reporting the majority of them: nearly 500.

In Louisiana, two infants have died of pertussis in the past six months, according to the state health department, the first deaths from the disease in the state since 2018.

A new study found shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20%. The research is part of growing understanding about how many factors influence brain health as we age – and what we can do about it.