Are there lessons for the U.S. in this European country's struggle with measles?

"The country ranked fifth on the measles outbreak list last year, reporting 30,692 cases and 23 deaths. According to Dr. Aurora Stanescu, an epidemiologist at the National Institute for Public Health in Romania, five of those deaths were children under age 1. Schwalbe calls those figures a "wake-up call." "That's a lot of cases of measles, and that's a lot of deaths from a disease that really shouldn't be killing anybody at this point," Schwalbe says."

"Even now, the consequences of low vaccine rates linger. The country continues to report measles cases in 2025. However, initial tallies are significantly lower than those of last year. According to public health specialists in Romania, the current numbers reflect how measles tends to come in waves. Amid a growing trend of vaccine hesitancy around the world, Romania's experience paints a cautionary tale."

Romania recorded 30,692 measles cases and 23 deaths in the largest national outbreak, with five deaths among infants under one. The country is an upper-middle-income member of the European Union, illustrating that wealth does not prevent large outbreaks when vaccination coverage declines. Measles cases persisted into 2025 but initial counts were much lower, demonstrating the disease's tendency to occur in waves. Low vaccine uptake and growing vaccine hesitancy contributed to the surge, while the legacy of an authoritarian past—when childhood immunizations were mandatory and administered at schools without parental consent—shaped current vaccination behaviors.

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