‘Medical freedom’ fuels US measles outbreak

And doctors are bearing the burden.

Add Reuters to Your Google Preferred Sources One Essential Read One Essential Read Recommended by Kate Turton, Newsletter Editor "This is not going to be the last vaccine-preventable disease to hit us"   Dr. Justin Moll, pediatrician at Parkside Pediatrics clinic. Spartanburg, South Carolina.  February 4, 2026.  REUTERS/Chad Terhune About a dozen times each day, medical staff at Parkside Pediatrics in Spartanburg, South Carolina, head to the clinic's parking lot, reaching inside cars and minivans to check children and their parents for fever, rash and other signs of measles. Dr. Justin Moll started this outdoor triage in December to cope with what has quickly become the largest US measles outbreak in more than three decades, federal health data show. Moll and his colleagues fear that outbreaks like these are becoming the new normal as Americans' opposition to vaccines deepens, fueled by backlash to the COVID-19 response and misinformation on social media. Medical experts say US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s anti-vaccine policies have further undermined public trust in life-saving immunizations. Read the full article   Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website   Reuters One Essential Read is sent three days a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you’ve engaged with its contents. For more information on how we process your personal information and your rights, please see our Privacy Statement. Terms & Conditions   © 2026 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036