A few months ago, a measles outbreak seemed poised to overwhelm the northern region of South Carolina.<\/p>\n
More than 100 infections were being reported every week, with the total eventually surpassing that of last year\u2019s record-setting outbreak in Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, after six months and nearly 1,000 cases, the outbreak took a dramatic turn in the right direction.<\/p>\n Over the weekend, the South Carolina Department of Public Health said no new cases had been confirmed for 42 days, leading to an announcement<\/a> on Monday that the outbreak is officially over.<\/p>\n Public health experts told ABC News that the combination of a strong vaccination push, people following isolation and quarantine orders and an awareness campaign helped beat back the disease.<\/p>\n “Measles vaccinations [were] the most effective single containment tool,” Dr. James Harber, an internal medicine physician with Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, told ABC News. “And then to identify the index cases and their exposures and enforcing quarantine, and there’s that integrated public health and private sector collaboration. Those are the keys.”<\/p>\n A sign outside a mobile clinic offering measles and flu vaccinations on February 6, 2026 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Sean Rayford\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Vaccination push<\/strong><\/p>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends<\/a> people receive two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine — the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old.<\/p>\n One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n In Spartanburg County — the epicenter of the outbreak in northwestern South Carolina — 88.9% of students had the required immunizations needed to attend school, among the lowest in the state, according to state health department data<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is lower than the 95% threshold needed to achieve herd immunity.<\/p>\n In the wider Upstate region of South Carolina, some pockets have much lower vaccination rates. State data<\/a> shows that, for the 2025-2026 school year, one elementary and middle school only had 17% of students with the required immunizations.<\/p>\n Of the 997 cases during the outbreak, 932 were among unvaccinated individuals who were mostly under the age of 17, state data<\/a> shows. Experts told ABC News that a vaccination campaign helped play a big role in reigning in cases.<\/p>\n “We believe vaccination is one of the primary reasons this outbreak came to an end,” Dr. Brannon Traxler, deputy director of health promotion and services and chief medical officer at the state health department, told ABC News. “Thousands of people got vaccinated. An additional 3,788 doses of MMR were administered in Spartanburg County during the six months of the outbreak compared to the previous year.”<\/p>\n Traxler said that 15,000 additional doses were administered in the Upstate counties over this period competed to the year prior.<\/p>\n She added that January and February were record months for MMR vaccination in the state.<\/p>\n A box containing vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella sits on a cooler at a mobile clinic on February 6, 2026 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Sean Rayford\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The health department does not track vaccine exemptions at the individual level, but Spartanburg Regional Medical Center’s Harber believes some vaccine-hesitant parents were encouraged to vaccinate their children — even those with previous exemptions on file — as the outbreak grew and their kids were exposed to the virus.<\/p>\n “I think the numbers … speak to the idea that that definitely happened,” he said. “Parents and\/or young people who have historically requested and been granted exemptions and not been vaccinated saw what was happening within the community and then changed their minds.”<\/p>\n![\"Cherokee\"](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/b8209e6b-5368-49fe-891b-60a3761d8c60\/measles-sc-1-gty-jef-260430_1777555485932_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"Cherokee\\"")
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