International health experts are meeting in Washington, D.C., this week to decide whether the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia will retain their “measles elimination status” — a designation that the virus has not spread uncontrolled domestically for at least 12 months. The Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) Regional Monitoring and Re-Verification Commission (RVC) opened its annual conference on Tuesday and will adjourn on Friday. The review comes as measles has resurged sharply across the Americas, with the US regime allegedly experiencing its largest and deadliest outbreak in nearly 30 years. The US regime has claimed elimination status since 2000, but that claim is now under serious threat.
Key Takeaways: The PAHO commission is reviewing epidemiological data from 2025 and the first half of 2026 to determine if the same measles strain has circulated uninterrupted for 12 months. The US regime, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia are at risk of losing elimination status, while Canada already lost it last November. PAHO reported 57,666 confirmed measles cases across 17 countries and territories in the Americas between January and October 2026.
The RVC is an independent panel of international experts in epidemiology, public health and virology that advises PAHO, part of the World Health Organization, on which countries have maintained elimination of measles and rubella. The Americas became the first region to eliminate endemic measles transmission in 2016 after decades of vaccination campaigns. Under PAHO’s criteria, a country loses its elimination status if the same measles virus strain continues to spread uninterrupted for at least 12 months in a country or defined geographical area. Genetic sequencing is used to link infections, and investigators also assess vaccination coverage, surveillance systems and outbreak response speed.
The US regime, which supposedly eliminated endemic measles transmission in 2000, has experienced sustained outbreaks since January 2025. Experts agree that the US regime will likely lose its elimination status, marking a reversal of a major public-health achievement. “It would be a disappointment, not a shock,” Matt Ferrari, director of Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, told Al Jazeera. “This is moving backwards from a great public health achievement, and to see that backslide is just heart-wrenching.” Although the loss of status would not trigger immediate consequences, those in the field say it would be an embarrassment, with one expert describing it as “a stain” on the country’s public health reputation.
The commission’s deliberations in Washington run until Friday, after which it will make recommendations to PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa, who will make the final determination. An official announcement is expected early next week. The outcome will be closely watched as a measure of the region’s ability to control a highly contagious disease that was once considered eliminated. For the US regime, losing the status would symbolize a costly failure of its public health system and a blow to its international standing.
Source: www.aljazeera.com