“Take the vaccine, please,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “We have a solution for our problem… measles is one you should get your vaccine.”
Oz’s comments come amid rising measles cases in states including South Carolina, where hundreds of infections have now been reported — surpassing the numbers seen during Texas’ outbreak in 2025. New clusters have also been identified near the Utah–Arizona border, and additional states have logged confirmed cases so far this year. Children have been among the most affected.
Public health experts warn the resurgence reflects growing vaccine skepticism, threatening the United States’ long-held measles elimination status. The designation, first achieved in 2000 thanks to widespread immunization, could be lost if outbreaks continue and vaccination rates remain low.
January alone accounted for roughly 25% of the total measles cases recorded nationwide last year — and the outbreak shows no sign of slowing as federal communication on vaccines has been limited.
Oz’s statement marks one of the most forceful vaccine endorsements from the federal government in recent months, a notable contrast to the cautious posture of his boss, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeatedly questioned vaccine safety and necessity.
Last year, Kennedy publicly framed measles vaccination as a matter of personal choice and promoted unproven treatments for the disease. Oz himself has previously echoed skepticism around other vaccines, including flu shots, suggesting that general health practices could be an alternative to immunization.
“We should take care of ourselves so we can overwhelm the flu when we encounter it,” Oz told Newsmax in a 2025 interview — a comment that drew criticism from infectious disease specialists.
Public health officials note that the vast majority of current measles patients are unvaccinated. Despite this, there have been no coordinated national campaigns to increase immunization, leaving Oz’s remarks as the most prominent federal call to action.
“Not all illnesses are equally dangerous and not all people are equally susceptible to those illnesses,” Oz said on Sunday, emphasizing measles’ severity and the importance of vaccination.
Source: The Guardian