--- title: The Many Reasons Why Measles Is On the Rise description: Measles is making a dangerous return to the world. But it's not just because of anti-vaxxers, and that is even more concerning canonical: https://time.com/5375687/measles-return/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-23T10:00:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:00.081Z article:section: Health og:title: Measles Is Returning to a Range of Places—But Not for the Same Reasons og:description: Anti-Vaxers aren’t the only reason og:url: https://time.com/5375687/measles-return/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt743008bc27ea12d0/698938698fd2ee339735c718/measles-europe-romania.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Measeles Europe og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Measles Is Returning to a Range of Places—But Not for the Same Reasons twitter:description: Anti-Vaxers aren’t the only reason twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt743008bc27ea12d0/698938698fd2ee339735c718/measles-europe-romania.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Measles Is Returning to a Range of Places — But Not for the Same Reasons > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Bill Gates on Healthcare [Watch (HLS stream): Bill Gates on Healthcare](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YxMNctaW.m3u8) (2:58)  _Published 2018-01-04. Nancy Gibbs sits down with guest-editor Bill Gates to discuss advances in healthcare._  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Aug 23, 2018 10:00 AM UTC  A child receives a vaccination against measles by a family physician on April 16, 2018 in the Romanian capital, Bucharest in Europe. A child receives a vaccination against measles by a family physician on April 16, 2018 in the Romanian capital, Bucharest in Europe. Daniel Mihailescu—AFP/Getty Images  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Aug 23, 2018 10:00 AM UTC By now, measles ought to be optional. As long as parents are conscientious and governments are competent, no child has to contract the sometimes fatal disease again. But across Europe and in the U.S., that’s not what’s happening. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were more than 40,000 cases of measles–including 37 deaths–across Europe in just the first six months of 2018\. That’s a huge jump: in all of last year, there were 23,927 cases, and only 5,273 the year before. More than half of those 2018 cases were found in Ukraine, while six other countries (Serbia, France, Italy, Russia, Georgia and Greece) have each topped 1,000 cases. The U.S. numbers are less alarming–107 cases, across 21 states and the District of Columbia–but they too represent an uptick over the past few years, if still a long way from the 667 cases in 2014. The question remains why, more than half a century after the first measles vaccine was licensed, we still must battle these epidemic wildfires. Just as the numbers vary from place to place, so do the answers. In the U.S., much of the problem can be traced to a fraudulent 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield, a British doctor who has since been stripped of his license to practice medicine. After he linked the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to autism, the lie was spread in the U.S. by celebrities like Jenny McCarthy. Although 20 years of study have established that no such link exists, vaccination rates plummeted in the U.K.–as well as in the U.S. and elsewhere–and have not fully recovered. In Ukraine, the problem is of more recent vintage. In 2008, the nation’s vaccination rates were as high as 95%–the level needed to establish herd immunity, or the ability of a well-vaccinated public to protect the unvaccinated handful by denying the virus any carriers. By 2016, the number was down to just 31%, partly as a result of war and unrest. Making things worse, by law, government-purchased vaccines have been available only to children, leaving adults exposed. In Italy, a bad situation–more than 2,000 cases from January through June–was made worse in August, when the upper house of Parliament halted mandatory vaccinations for kids entering nursery school or pre-K. The move was seen as an anti-establishment gesture by a populist government, but it came at a public-health price. Across Europe, WHO is working with governments to step up immunization rates. Ukraine especially is making progress, with a push to vaccinate all children when they reach the prescribed age and to double back and get the kids who had been missed. Free vaccines are now also available to at-risk adults. Nearly all vaccines work–but only if adults make smart decisions for dependent children. When the adults fail, no matter where that happens, it’s the kids who pay. _This appears in the September 03, 2018 issue of TIME._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5375687/measles-return/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5375687/measles-return/"},"headline":"Measles Is Returning to a Range of Places — But Not for the Same Reasons","datePublished":"2018-08-23T10:00:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:00.081Z","description":"Measles is making a dangerous return to the world. 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