A child has died in New York State after contracting measles, the first fatal case in 30 years in this region of the United States, authorities announced Monday. “I am heartbroken to learn that a child in Lewis County died after contracting measles,” the state’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said in a statement.
Lewis County, close to Canada, is several hours’ drive from New York City. The death of a child is a “shattering reminder of what is at stake when Washington undermines decades of progress in protecting Americans from preventable diseases,” said Ms. Hochul.
Measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000 thanks to vaccination but has been making a comeback in the country for several years, against a backdrop of a decline in vaccination and growing distrust of health authorities, a phenomenon in which Donald Trump’s Minister of Health, Robert Kennedy Jr, is accused of playing an important role.
A vaccine since 1960
Since the start of 2026, 4,834 confirmed cases of this serious and contagious disease have been counted in the United States. A state of emergency was declared in October in New York State due to increasing cases of measles.
Measles causes fever, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes, and in some cases more serious complications, such as pneumonia and inflammation of the brain which can cause serious damage or even death.
Before the vaccine was developed in the early 1960s, measles killed hundreds of children each year in the United States. It continues to cause tens of thousands of deaths across the world.
