Health officials in Washington on Sunday warned that thousands of attendees at this year’s March for Life may have been exposed to measles.
“DC Health was notified of multiple confirmed cases of measles whose carriers visited multiple locations in the District while contagious,” DC Health said in a statement. “DC Health is informing people who were at these locations that they may have been exposed.”
The March for Life rally and concert on Jan. 23 was listed as one of the sites linked to measles exposure, as well as the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Catholic University of America, Ronald Reagan National Airport, Union Station, and several Metro transit lines, according to DC Health.
DC Health did not include the number of confirmed cases.
Adding to mounting calls for spread prevention, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, urged the public to get vaccinated as cases surge. “Take the vaccine, please. We have a solution for our problem,” he said in a CNN interview Sunday.
Oz said CMS has “advocated for measles vaccination all along,” and added that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also supports getting vaccinated against the disease.
When HHS released the new schedule for childhood vaccination, the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine was included as a recommended vaccine for children ages 4 through 6.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that spreads through respiratory droplets and can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves a space.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported that as of Feb. 5, there were 733 confirmed cases of measles reported in the United States, with 92% of cases associated with outbreaks. At the end of 2025, the CDC reported 2,267 cases, of which 89% were associated with outbreaks.
Of those who have contracted measles, nearly 30% are under the age of 5, and of all measles cases, 95% of those who contracted the disease were unvaccinated or did not confirm they had received the MMR vaccine.
ICE FACILITY IN TEXAS STRUGGLES WITH MEASLES OUTBREAK
South Carolina accounts for 546 measles diagnoses this year, with additional cases having popped up at the end of 2025.
Utah and Arizona follow South Carolina in the number of cases, with 72 and 25, respectively.