Vaccinated or not, we’re on the brink of a measles epidemic

September 23, 2026

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5 min read

Vaccinated or not, we’re on the brink of a measles epidemic

Immunologist and epidemiologist Michael Mina has been studying measles for fifteen years, and his assessment is blunt: “I would say we are very much on the road towards an epidemic.” The United States, he warns, will probably lose its measles elimination status—declared in 2000 after decades of successful vaccination—as outbreaks grow larger and begin to merge.

What measles actually does to the body

Measles is not just a fever and rash. Mina, who is chief medical officer at biotech company We Could, was part of the team that discovered a phenomenon called immunological amnesia. Here is how it works: when a person gets infected, the measles virus enters the body through the lungs and is pulled into lymphoid tissue—the system where immune cells live, grow, and maintain memory of past infections. The virus then attacks those memory cells directly. “It starts eating away at our immune memory,” Mina explains. A single measles infection can delete up to 70 percent of a person’s entire immunological memory pool.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:22) **Measles is Back & Why It's Different Than You Remember** - Host Regina Barber introduces the episode's stakes: a large outbreak in Pennsylvania, political conflict over death counts, and the real risk of the U.S. losing its measles elimination status.
2 (04:10) **The "Measles Paradox": How the Virus Attacks Your Immune Memory** - Michael Mina explains that measles is not just a fever and rash; it causes "immunological amnesia" by destroying up to 70% of a person's immune memory.
3 (06:49) **The Devastating Pre-Vaccine Impact of Immune Amnesia** - Mina reveals that in the pre-vaccine era, this immune amnesia was linked to about half of all childhood infectious disease deaths from *other* causes.
4 (07:41) **Dissecting "Measles-Associated Death" vs. "Measles-Caused Death"** - The hosts and Mina dig into the controversial terminology being used in the Pennsylvania outbreak, specifically regarding the infant who died from a ruptured spleen.
5 (10:17) **Setting the Record Straight: No Cure, No Benefit** - The conversation directly addresses claims by RFK Jr. that measles can be beneficial and cured by vitamin A and chicken soup.
6 (11:13) **How Worried Should Vaccinated People Be?** - Mina explains that for healthy, twice-vaccinated individuals, the risk is extremely low, with the vaccine being roughly 99.8% effective.
7 (12:37) **The Road to an Epidemic: From Isolated Outbreaks to a Single Fire** - Mina describes how the U.S. is transitioning from isolated outbreaks to a potential epidemic as susceptible populations grow.

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Show Notes

Measles is making a comeback. Ongoing outbreaks in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah have documented hundreds of cases, mostly among unvaccinated people. And while local and federal politicians debate the definitions and impact of those measles-associated deaths, health experts worry that we’re overlooking the real problem: the threat of a full-scale epidemic. Today, we talk to one of those experts – epidemiologist Michael Mina – to figure out who’s most at risk and whether there’s any way for us to turn this epidemic around.

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