Hi, it’s Jessica in Washington. A key meeting starts today that will decide measles elimination status for the Americas. More on that in a moment, but first …
It was a proud moment for US health officials in 2000 when the World Health Organization declared that measles had been eliminated from the nation. The achievement — meaning the US had seen no continuous spread of the disease for more than 12 months — followed a 1989 change in recommendations that students be given a second dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.