The federal government is urging Mexicans who haven’t been inoculated against measles to get vaccinated as the country deals with a concerning outbreak of the highly contagious airborne disease.
Since the start of 2025, Mexico has recorded 9,187 confirmed cases of measles, according to government data published on Wednesday.
Almost 30% of those confirmed cases — 2,755 — were recorded in 2026, and many of them were detected in infants and young children.
Thousands more probable cases of measles have been counted in 2025 and 2026.
Mexico’s measles death toll since the start of 2025 stands at 28, with 26 of the fatalities occurring last year and two in the first six weeks of 2026.
The state of Jalisco is currently facing the most serious outbreak with 1,603 confirmed cases this year. That figure accounts for 58% of the national total in 2026.
Chiapas has recorded the second highest number of confirmed measles cases this year with 282 followed by Mexico City (157) and Sinaloa (144).
On a per capita basis, Jalisco has the highest incidence of measles with 17.85 confirmed cases per 100,000 people in 2026.
Colima has the second highest per capita rate with 7.65 confirmed cases per 100,000 people this year, followed by Chiapas (4.56) and Sinaloa (4.49).
Since the start of 2025, all of Mexico’s 32 federal entities have recorded confirmed cases of measles.
However, so far in 2026, five states — Baja California Sur, Tamaulipas, Campeche, Zacatecas and Coahuila — haven’t recorded a single confirmed case, although probable cases have been detected in each of them.
Vaccination: ‘The only way to control measles’
At President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Wednesday morning press conference, Health Minister David Kershenobich told reporters that measles is the most contagious viral disease.
One person with measles can infect up to 18 people around them, he said.
Kershenobich noted that “the only way to control measles” is through vaccination.
(Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro.com)
The health minister sought to downplay the seriousness of the situation, highlighting that there have only been around 9,000 confirmed cases of measles in Mexico since the start of last year among a population of “133 million Mexicans.”
“What does that mean? It means that the vaccination strategy is working, because if we didn’t have protection from vaccination, and [with measles] being such a highly contagious virus, we would have millions of Mexicans infected,” Kershenobich said.
He also said that 90% of measles cases in Mexico have occurred in unvaccinated people.
The health minister noted that the first outbreak of the current wave of measles infections occurred in February 2025 when an outbreak in Texas spread into the northern border state of Chihuahua.
So far this year, Chihuahua has recorded 13 confirmed cases.
“With the application of 1.8 million vaccines, we managed to defeat the measles outbreak in Chihuahua,” Kershenobich said.
Government seeks to ‘cut the chain of transmission’
Deputy Health Minister Ramiro López Elizalde told reporters on Wednesday that Mexico has 28 million doses of the measles vaccine “ready to apply immediately.”
“This is addition to the 14.3 million vaccines that we’ve already administered in 2025 and 2026,” he said.
“… We have enough vaccines to protect the population,” López added.
He noted that the Health Ministry’s “priority group” for vaccination is children aged six months to 12 years as they are “most vulnerable” to measles.
If a child hasn’t been vaccinated against measles, or has only received one dose and six months has passed since it was administered, he or she “must be taken” to get vaccinated, López said.
“We are setting up more than 21,000 health centers across the entire country to guarantee access,” he said.
“For families’ peace of mind: if your son or daughter already has their … two doses, he or she is protected. A booster isn’t needed,” López said.
The deputy health minister noted that cases of measles are being detected in people who “didn’t complete their [vaccine] scheme in the past.”
“That’s why in the entities with the greatest incidence we’re vaccinating people from 13 to 49 who didn’t [previously] get a vaccine or … their second dose,” he said.
Starting Feb. 23, people between those ages in Jalisco, Colima, Chiapas, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Tabasco and Mexico City will be able to get vaccinated at a government health center.
(Galos Cañas/Cuartoscuro.com)
“The objective is to recover [vaccine] coverage and cut the chain of transmission by vaccinating people from 13 to 49. This strategy will be implemented first in the states with the greatest number of cases and it will continue gradually across the entire country,” López said.
“… We designed a platform called dondemevacuno.salud.gob.mx and there you can select your state, municipality and age group, and look up [the location of] the more than 21,000 vaccination points,” he added.
Vaccination for children will commence at the government centers next Monday Feb. 16.
Sheinbaum highlights that most Mexicans are vaccinated and calls for calm
Sheinbaum stressed on Wednesday that the majority of Mexicans, both adults and children, are vaccinated against measles.
“That’s very important,” she said.
Sheinbaum called on people to “keep calm, because if we don’t, an idea that ‘we’re facing a terrible situation’ is created.”
She urged parents to take their children to get vaccinated against measles if they haven’t already done so.
“There are 28 million vaccines and we have an appropriate distribution strategy,” Sheinbaum said.
She noted that some states are requesting that people use masks to prevent the spread of measles, but reiterated the importance of vaccination as the frontline defense against the disease, and asserted that Mexico could purchase more vaccines if needed.
“Whoever isn’t vaccinated, mainly girls and boys, has to go to the health centers and get vaccinated,” Sheinbaum said.
Mexico could lose its measles-free status ahead of the FIFA World Cup
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that a panel of independent health experts summoned by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is “expected to convene on April 13 to review data that will be used to decide whether Mexico’s measles-free status — held for three decades — will be revoked.”
Malaquías López Cervantes, a National Autonomous University epidemiologist, said that “in reality, Mexico has already lost its status.”
“All that remains is for the PAHO to make the bureaucratic declaration. What Mexico must demonstrate is its ability to manage the outbreak we are facing today,” said López, who was quoted in the Times’ report.
The gathering of the PAHO panel is slated to occur less than two months before the commencement of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which Mexico is co-hosting with the United States and Canada.
Mexico will welcome up to 5 million World Cup travelers in 2026, according to FIFA estimates.
Victoria Pando Robles, an infectious-disease researcher in Mexico, told The New York Times that “we are going to receive visitors who are probably not vaccinated.”
“And if they go to a stadium, they’re going to find thousands of people susceptible to the disease,” she said.
“And then those numbers become significant. It’s exponential,” Pando said.
Mexico News Daily
