Twenty-five years after the disease was declared “eliminated” in the U.S., cases are rising again, with a Texas outbreak now spreading to New Mexico. Measles cases continue to rise in the United States nearly two and a half decades after the virus had been declared eliminated in the country.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday said he recognizes the serious impact of the current measles outbreak in Texas, in which a child died this week, and said the government is providing resources,

Measles was considered to be eliminted in the U.S. in 2000, thanks to vaccine developments. But vaccination rates have dropped since the covid pandemic began.