Florida has recorded its first measles case of the year amid an outbreak in states across the country.
A student at Miami Palmetto Senior High School in Pinecrest has been diagnosed with the disease, according to an email seen by CBS News Miami.
Newsweek has contacted the Miami-Dade County Health Department for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The ongoing measles outbreak in Texas, and smaller outbreaks in other states, has put Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. under the spotlight due to his long history of anti-vaccine activism.
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. but has since made a comeback that experts have linked to rising anti-vaccine sentiment, with sporadic outbreaks that overwhelmingly impact the unvaccinated occurring somewhat frequently around the country.
(File photo) A health worker prepares a dose of the measles vaccine at a health center in Lubbock, Texas, on February 27, 2025. (File photo) A health worker prepares a dose of the measles vaccine at a health center in Lubbock, Texas, on February 27, 2025. RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images
What to Know
A student at Miami Palmetto Senior High School has tested positive for measles in what is the first confirmed case of the disease in Florida this year.
An email to parents and guardians said that transmission may be low for those who have been vaccinated against measles. The school is now working with local health officials to offer a free MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) immunization drive for unvaccinated students with parental consent.
Parents and guardians were informed that the local health department will notify them if their child had close contact with the student who has measles.
The U.S. is experiencing measles outbreaks across multiple states, including California, Georgia, Kentucky, and New York.
The most significant outbreak is in Texas, where 159 cases have been identified since late January. The outbreak in the Lone Star State has primarily affected unvaccinated individuals, particularly within the Mennonite community in West Texas.
On February 26, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed that an unvaccinated child had died after contracting measles amid the ongoing outbreak in the South Plains and Panhandle regions. It was the first fatality from the disease in the U.S. since 2015.
The current number of confirmed measles cases in the U.S. is already more than half of the total 285 measles cases recorded across the country in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been criticized for his anti-vaccine views, voiced support for the MMR vaccine on Sunday amid the measles outbreak.
Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease and can cause serious health issues, including death, especially in children younger than 5 years old.
What People Are Saying
Email to parents and guardians of Miami Palmetto Senior High School students: “We want to inform you that a student at Miami Palmetto Senior High has been diagnosed with measles. While the risk of transmission may be low for vaccinated individuals, we are taking all necessary precautions while working closely with local health authorities to ensure the health and safety of our school community.”
Yasmin Kazi, who has a son at Miami Palmetto Senior High School, told NBC Miami: “We got some phone calls from family telling us somebody has measles in the school. With COVID and the flu here, and now the measles, it is concerning that our kid could fall sick.”
Gerald Evans, professor at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Departments of Medicine, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences, and Pathology & Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, previously told Newsweek: “I think that without question, the measles outbreak will spread further. Immunity to measles infections provided by the highly effective measles vaccine has fallen significantly due to anti-vax disinformation, leaving fewer than 10 percent of the population susceptible to this highly transmissible virus. Given the fatality rate of measles—1 in 1,000 infected persons will die as a result—the impact of this will be felt acutely in both the general population and, more so, in undervaccinated groups.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., writing for Fox News on March 2: “Parents play a pivotal role in safeguarding their children’s health. All parents should consult with their health care providers to understand their options to get the MMR vaccine. The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.”
What Happens Next
A free MMR immunization drive will take place at Miami Palmetto Senior High School the week of March 10.
Um die besten Erfahrungen zu bieten, verwenden wir Technologien wie Cookies, um Geräteinformationen zu speichern und/oder darauf zuzugreifen. Wenn Sie diesen Technologien zustimmen, können wir Daten wie das Surfverhalten oder eindeutige IDs auf dieser Website verarbeiten. Die Nichteinwilligung oder der Widerruf der Einwilligung kann bestimmte Merkmale und Funktionen beeinträchtigen.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
