This isn’t just a bad year for measles; it looks to be the start of a bad era. Confirmed cases have hit a 35-year high and continue to rise, with hundreds hospitalized and three deaths reported.

‘The assessment for elimination isn’t until November, but that is a scheduling issue,’ said Anne Schuchat, who led the CDC’s immunization group from 2006 to 2015. ‘It’s just so sad because some people will get brutally ill.’

In Salt Lake County, doctors like Emilie Morris and Nathan Money have seen first-hand the impact of unvaccinated children hospitalized with measles complications. 'They are bent over, hunched over, drooling, crying,' Morris describes, adding that they ‘look kind of glazed over’ due to severe dehydration.

Doctors also face greater challenges in treating these cases, having to do more blood work and lumbar punctures to rule out life-threatening illnesses like meningitis. ‘The last thing I want to do is miss something,’ said Money.

The return of measles highlights the importance of vaccinations as a public health measure, but it also points to deeper concerns about vaccine hesitancy and its root causes, including personal experiences with vaccines or lack thereof, misinformation, and financial barriers.