The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday upheld the role of vaccines in offering protection against measles after an unvaccinated child succumbed to the infection earlier this week.

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.

The measles outbreak in Texas has grown to 146 cases with most infections reported among children and teenagers, according to new data released Friday.