One recent weekend, I spent some time doing something that is SO VERY 2026: I went through my childhood records to confirm that I had, in fact, gotten the measles vaccine.
I was pretty sure I had been vaccinated, and I even had a recollection of getting measles at one point when I was young—but stories like this, from Wired, prompted me to want to be 100 percent sure:
Some children affected by measles in the ongoing South Carolina outbreak have developed a serious complication of the disease called encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, state epidemiologist Linda Bell said. …
The surge could mean another bad year of measles for the United States, which had more than 2,267 cases—the highest in 30 years—in 2025. Declining vaccination rates across the country are driving the resurgence.
Encephalitis is a rare but severe complication of measles that can lead to convulsions and cause deafness or intellectual disability in children. It usually occurs within 30 days of an initial measles infection and can happen if the brain becomes infected with the virus or if an immune reaction to the virus causes inflammation in the brain. Among children who get measles encephalitis, 10 to 15 percent die.
Yikes. I am very far from being a child, but seeing as measles is even worse on adults than it is on children … better safe than sorry.
Fortunately, I was able to find my records fairly quickly. According to the handwritten “Immunization and health record” tri-fold card my mom gave me a while back, I know that I indeed received the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine when I was a year old. As for that recollection of having measles, I was mostly correct: When I was 7, I got what was then often called German measles, also known as rubella, despite being vaccinated.
Because there were still outbreaks in schools and even colleges in the late 1980s, the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1989 recommended students get a second shot—and I indeed received an MMR booster vaccine that year, when I was 14 years old. This two-dose recommendation became the standard and is credited with helping the U.S. get to the point where measles was declared eradicated in 2000 (and rubella was declared eradicated in 2004).
All of this was on my mind when this alert from the Riverside University Health System came across my news feed, on Feb. 13:
An additional Western Riverside County adult and child with possible links to the first case have tested positive for measles, according to public health officials with Riverside University Health System. This marks a localized outbreak of three total confirmed cases of measles in Riverside County for 2026.
The adult provided a verbal report of vaccination for measles; the child was not vaccinated. Both are recovering in their respective homes.
“These additional cases of measles underscore the disease’s highly contagious nature,” said Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Jennifer Chevinsky.
Measles is a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person. It can spread to others through coughing and sneezing. If other people breathe the contaminated air or touch the infected surface, then touch their eyes, noses or mouths, they can become infected. Measles can live for up to two hours in an airspace after an infected person leaves an area.
If someone has measles, up to 90% of the people close to them, who are not immune, will also become infected.
As the United States heads toward having its “measles eradicated” status revoked, take note: If you’re not sure you’re fully vaccinated, check your records and/or talk to your doctor.
Inept, corrupt and should-be-jailed people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are in charge now, and as a result, measles is back—in an increasingly big way.
Note: This is the editor’s note that appeared in the March 2026 print edition. Portions of this were originally published online in the Feb. 8 Indy Digest.