Schumer wants public health emergency declared for measles outbreak

Press Release, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent the following letter on Friday to Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the U.S. reached the grim milestone of more measles cases in 2025 than any other year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000.

Following the devastating resurgence of this preventable and eliminated disease, Schumer is calling on RFK Jr. to declare a Public Health Emergency for measles.

 “I am writing with deep concern over your response – or lack thereof – to the rapid resurgence and spread of measles across the United States over the past several months,” Schumer wrote. “Under your tutelage as Secretary, you have undermined vaccines, gutted public health funding, and dismantled core federal protections meant to keep Americans safe.”

Schumer tells Kennedy he has destabilized the nation’s infectious disease response infrastructure by conducting mass layoffs, including infectious disease scientists, indiscriminately issuing “careless and devastating grant freezes and rescissions,” and politicizing the overhaul of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

“You have walked our country into the nation’s largest measles outbreak in 33 years, leading cases to hit a record high a full 25 years after this country eliminated the disease,” Schumer wrote to Kennedy. “What began as a localized outbreak in Texas has now exploded into a nationwide public health crisis, infecting nearly 1,300 Americans across 38 states, hospitalizing scores, and proving to be deadly.”

Declaring a Public Health Emergency for measles would expand federal resources to address the worst measles outbreak in over three decades in the U.S. The federal government, states, and localities must all leverage funding, personnel, and other resources toward fighting unyielding outbreaks, Schumer said.