South Carolina – As vaccination rates are going down and national leaders argue over how important immunization is for stopping disease, public health officials in South Carolina are dealing with a measles outbreak that is spreading quickly.
At least 129 people have gotten the highly contagious virus since the outbreak started in October in portions of South Carolina that are close to the state’s northern border. Health officials contend that most of the cases are individuals who were not immunized.
Democratic politicians, like U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, have strongly criticized the spike. She said the Trump administration is hurting public health by promoting false information about vaccines. Jayapal said that measles is coming back across the country because political leaders like President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are questioning established vaccine research.
She said that “people will die because of this”, noting that at least three people, including two children, have already died in U.S. measles outbreaks this year.
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Data from around the country reveals a big surge in cases. In 2025, there have been more over 1,900 cases of measles and 47 outbreaks in the US. This is a big jump from previous year, when there were just 285 cases and 16 outbreaks. The consequences have been extremely severe in South Carolina.
More than 250 people have been exposed in schools, a church, and a healthcare center. This has forced scores of children who have not been vaccinated to stay in quarantine for 21 days. Some students were exposed twice and had to stay away from other people for two three-week periods.
Linda Bell, the state epidemiologist, warned that the outbreak is getting worse because fewer people are getting vaccinated than expected. Experts in public health suggest that 95 percent of people in a community need to be vaccinated to stop the spread of measles.
Some of the schools that are part of the quarantines have immunization rates that are far lower than that. In South Carolina, the number of students getting the MMR vaccine has gone down from 96 percent in 2020 to 93.5 percent.
The measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine is said to prevent 97% of measles cases, but Kennedy has long doubted the safety of vaccines. He admitted earlier this year that the MMR shot is the best way to stop measles, but he has also pushed therapies that haven’t been proven to work and still saying that immunization doesn’t have many other benefits. Recent actions by government health panels and modifications to CDC messaging have made public health professionals even more concerned.
Republican Governor Henry McMaster has advised people to be vaccinated, but he has also said that people should be able to choose whether or not to do so. Federal health officials have said the same thing, telling people to talk to their doctors.
Some people say that this method doesn’t take into account the risk that measles poses to everyone, even though the US declared the illness eliminated in 2000. If things keep going the way they are, scientists say the country might lose that status as soon as next year.
Senators Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont both remarked that the outbreak shows that policies are not working as they should. They also warned that people who are still skeptical about immunizations could lose decades of progress against diseases that can be avoided.
