Border measles outbreak reveals vaccine gaps in Mexico and Texas

An unvaccinated 9-year-old’s return from Seminole, Texas to Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua sparked a large measles outbreak that spread across parts of Mexico and led to thousands of infections and dozens of deaths in 2025. The spread highlighted gaps in Mexico’s vaccination program amid budget cuts and health-system turmoil, along with pockets of vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. and among Indigenous farmworkers. A mass vaccination push helped curb cases in subsequent months, but public-health experts warn the threat remains in under-vaccinated communities and regions.