Hochul Declares Measles Disaster Emergency, Widens Who Can Vaccinate
New York has 108 confirmed cases this year, most in under-immunized rural communities. Paramedics, pharmacists and midwives can now give the MMR shot.
Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a statewide disaster emergency over measles on Monday, Oct. 5, allowing paramedics, advanced EMS providers, pharmacists and midwives to give the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine as cases climb in rural parts of the state.
New York had 108 confirmed measles cases this year as of Oct. 3, seven in New York City and 101 elsewhere in the state, the governor's office said. That is more than double the 48 cases the state Health Department counted for all of 2025. Ninety-two of this year's cases have been found since July 15 in under-immunized rural communities across 18 counties.
Hochul's executive order runs through Nov. 4. It lets registered nurses order measles tests and lets pharmacists vaccinate children as young as 2. Every MMR shot must be logged in the state or New York City immunization registry within 72 hours, though the order does not allow anyone to be vaccinated without consent.
"No one should get seriously ill or die from a vaccine-preventable disease," Hochul said. "That is why I have taken steps to increase the number of health professionals who can vaccinate and test."
State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said department staff are working with local health departments to track and contain the outbreak, and he urged New Yorkers to check their vaccination status. Local health departments have given more than 1,000 MMR doses in rural areas since mid-July, the state said.
The order cites an outbreak in neighboring Pennsylvania, which had 977 cases and five deaths as of Oct. 2, mostly in rural counties along the New York border.
On Long Island, Nassau County health officials confirmed a case in May in an unvaccinated child younger than 5, the county's first since 2024.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has counted 3,887 confirmed cases nationwide this year as of Oct. 1. The agency says MMR coverage among kindergartners fell from 95.2% in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4% in 2025-2026. Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.
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