There has been considerable fulmination in the media outlets about the increase in measles cases in the United States, What follows is a table documenting the reported cases of measles this year for OECD countries in 2026
Recent Reported Measles Incidence — Selected OECD Countries
Most recent 2026 figures available from national or international public-health authorities. Reporting dates differ by country, so the figures should be regarded as an indication of relative scale rather than a precise ranking.
| Country | Reported cases | Reporting period | Approx. population | Cases per million |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 12,479 | Jan. 1–Aug. 8, 2026 | ~130 million | ~96.0 |
| Canada | 1,114 | Jan. 1–Aug. 8, 2026 | ~41 million | ~27.2 |
| England* | 970 | Jan. 1–Aug. 17, 2026 | ~58 million | ~16.7 |
| United States | 2,465 | Jan. 1–Aug. 6, 2026 | ~342 million | ~7.2 |
| Japan | 498 | Jan. 1–May 20, 2026 | ~124 million | ~4.0 |
*The most recent UK government figures available on a directly comparable calendar-year basis cover England rather than the entire United Kingdom.
Sources: Pan American Health Organization/WHO for Mexico, Canada and the United States; UK Health Security Agency for England; Japan Institute for Health Security for Japan. Figures are provisional and reporting dates differ. Population figures are rounded, so per-capita rates are approximate.
Quite a number of explanations have been suggested for the increase in cases including delays in vaccination produced by the COVID-19 pandemic, “vaccination hesitancy”, and others.
Considering the large numbers in developed countries other than the U. S., I see little reason to blame the increase on conditions specific to the U. S. Officials should strive to reduce the numbers but I don’t believe there is any need for brow-beating.
This map of countries vaccine mandates for children is interesting:
Mandatory: Mexico
Mandatory for school entry: U.S. (some states)
Recommended: Canada, England & Japan.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/vaccine-mandates-by-country
There are probably some better sources, but it supports my assumptions. A lot of places, presumably Mexico, have state capacity issues, such that the mandates written into laws aren’t really enforced and vaccines may not be readily available in lots of places. (the latter is also probably true in parts of the U.S.)
Anglo and Nordic countries have strong traditions of valuing individual autonomy that resist mandates or make opt out procedures in any laws. (E.g., Oregon vaccine mandates have broad opt outs for religious beliefs, with such beliefs defined by the individual)
Recommendations in Japan are framed as a civic duty, which is sufficient in that culture to get quite high levels of vaccination without legal coercion.
PD Shaw, Thanks for sharing the link. That is interesting data. Countries where the measles vaccine is mandatory have a lower average vaccination rate than countries where it is recommended.
I am surprised by England and Canada. They had far more strict COVID vaccine mandates (and actual enforcement), and culturally have very different attitudes towards science, and authority.
None of it is good through, the Americas as a whole had supposedly eliminated measles a 10-20 years ago.
Yes. We had seen measles eliminated meaning the very few cases we saw were from people who had gotten it while overseas. What we are seeing now is cases originating in the US and it’s almost all among the unvaccinated. Of note the unvaccinated include those who not able to be vaccinated due to immune system issues like some cancers. Note that vaccination rates are dropping.
So you can look at the absolute numbers or the rate and realize both are low so why worry? Or you could realize that essentially all of those cases were avoidable and given the decreasing vaccination rates cases are likely to increase. (As an aside it’s not clear given our cutbacks how effective we are at catching all cases of measles or other infectious diseases. Our current Sec of Health has expressed doubt about the germ theory of disease so it’s unlikely he would emphasize this.)
Steve
“Or you could realize that essentially all of those cases were avoidable….”
I think the “but why should public policy make it worse” is the correct interpretation. But I find it interesting that it seems to only apply to the lefts talking points. Should that not apply to illegal immigrant crime? Voter fraud? Easily avoidable, each, but illegal immigration crime is excuse city. “It doesn’t amount to much,” unless you or a family member are dead. Voter fraud? “Well, it doesn’t amount to much.” (A quick goal post move from Democrats’ “it doesn’t exist”).
We either have principles, or we don’t.
A Trump supporter talking about principles? The irony. Anyway, yes they matter but the principle should be that the benefit exceeds the cost. That’s easy to achieve with eh measles vaccine as there are no reported measles death in our history from measles by a fully vaccinated person. The death rate from vaccine complications is so low we dont know the number. We know the risk of measles since before the vaccine (with half our current population) we had 500 people, mostly kids, die every year and 1 out of a 1000 had permanent brain damage. Cost -benefit seems pretty obvious.
When you look at voter fraud the risk is not zero but it’s pretty close as there are very few reported cases in spite of multiple investigations and offerings of bounties. No national election has ever been altered due to fraud and the number of local elections that might have been altered is tiny. Since the benefit would be tiny that means that cost should be low. Instead, all of the offered plans would reduce the number of people able to vote, which actually seems to be the real goal. If someone has a plan to offer that has next to zero costs and looks like it might eliminate the 10-20 cases of real fraud per year, I am all for it. (By real fraud I dont mean the case like the lady in Texas who got the big jail sentence for fraud since she voted while on parole after her parole officer told her that was legal.)
On illegal immigrant crime I would also like to eliminate that but I think the cost of doing so including the murder of US citizens has made the cost a lot higher than it should have been. If you want to eliminate their crime then you need to prioritize deporting young males who have been here a short while. While there has been some of that we have also seen people who have been here for 20-30 years who owned businesses and employed Americans who were essentially zero risk being deported. We have poorly trained ICE officers acting anonymously, something we have never tolerated from our police or military and we see citizens being repeatedly arrested and held in jail for a while and then being released without charges. We see citizens being accused of felonies but in the federal court system where juries return indictments about 99% of the time we see them being denied.
Anyway, while illegal immigrants are less likely to kill than a US citizen it is true they wouldnt kill at all if they weren’t here. So deport them but lower the costs.
Steve
Reminds me of the old line, Steve. “Madam, we’ve already established what kind of woman you are, we are now just negotiating the price.”
You know, Steve. Billions in fraud for Medicare in CA and MN and god knows how much more. Just today, it’s more. All illegals. Cost benefit. Heh. Cost benefit. Don’t give a damn about legitimate recipients, do you? Just your precious tribe. Illegals = perceived political power.
And let’s face it, “every vote counts” wilts in Dem world. It’s just open the system up, commit fraud. Own it Steve. No principles
1) The CA fraud is related to hospice and according to Dr Oz it’s mostly Russian/Armenian gangs. I haven’t followed it that closely but I know that in Florida it resulted in someone being elected as a Senator so I eagerly await to see which of the CA fraudsters gets nominated. ‘
2) The estimates of fraud in Mn have been overblown but there was some real fraud and they are putting them in jail. Quite a few of the fraudsters were white Americans but none were rich CEOs so I am not expecting a senator, maybe just a congressman.
I would suggest you get reading glasses. I specifically said I am ok with deporting illegals but I think the costs in the form of shooting and murdering US citizens has been too high. They could also improve the benefit ratio by concentrating on young men.
Commit fraud? Then why cant you or any conservative find any in spite of multiple commissions, bounties and investigations? As I said, it’s almost nonexistent. However, lest I made it unclear, I would support an effort to reduce the infinitesimal fraud that exists if you can provide an offer that will reduce fraud without reducing votes from the opposition party. Look at Trump’s current effort. The post office is going to sample a few letters out of a bunch of thousands. If the find one “bad” one they will toss all of the other thousands.
Steve