Measles continues to spread in America, and New York is now taking emergency action against it.

On Monday, Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order declaring a state disaster emergency over growing measles cases in the state. There have been more than 100 cases reported in New York this year, along with over 1,000 cases in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. The order, among other things, will now allow pharmacists and other authorities to provide measles vaccination.

“After reviewing the latest data on measles cases in New York State, I am declaring a State Disaster Emergency to strengthen our ongoing efforts to confront this disease,” Hochul said in a statement announcing the decision. “No one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease.”

There have been nearly 3,900 reported cases of measles across 47 states and other jurisdictions in the U.S. this year, as of October 1st, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Roughly 95% of these cases occurred in unvaccinated people. This year’s tally is significantly worse than it was in 2025, which already saw the most cases reported stateside in 30 years.

Vaccination, provided through the combination of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, is highly effective at preventing measles. But the disease is so contagious that a high vaccination rate (95%) is needed to maintain herd immunity in a population, meaning it can’t spread easily among unvaccinated people (including children too young to have gotten their shots yet).

S. this year have come from sustained local outbreaks of the viral disease, with 42 separate outbreaks documented in 2026.

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