Stanford study: When measles could return if vaccination rates continue to fall

A new study from Stanford University researchers paints a picture of a near-future where diseases, once eradicated in the country, could realistically return.

“At current state-level vaccination rates, measles may become endemic again,” the authors wrote when they published their research this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Widespread vaccination against measles led to the virus being declared eradicated in the United States in 2000. California has higher-than-average vaccination rates.