An Unvaccinated Baby Becomes Israel's 12th Measles Death

An 11-month-old baby has died from complications of measles, Israel's Health Ministry reported on 9 December 2025. The infant, who was previously healthy and unvaccinated, had been transferred the previous week from the Poriya Medical Center in Tiberias, in the north of the country, to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, where he was placed on an intravenous drip.

The death brings to 12 the number of fatalities in the outbreak that began in May, the ministry said. The majority of those who died were previously healthy children with no underlying conditions who had not received the measles vaccine, and most of the other 11 recent deaths involved healthy, unvaccinated infants. The ministry stressed that measles is preventable with a safe and effective vaccine, and repeated its recommendation that children receive doses at ages one and six.

How the outbreak has run

The toll accumulated over roughly seven months. By late September 2025 five children had died, all under the age of two and a half, and the Times of Israel reported that these were Israel's first measles deaths since the outbreak of 2018–19, which had itself been the first since 2003. By 25 November the ministry had recorded 11 deaths, according to the same outlet, which listed 14 affected areas including Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak, Modi'in Illit, Safed, Haifa and Tiberias.

Reporting published in late November put the case count at 1,644 confirmed infections as of late October, with 577 people hospitalised. By 4 February 2026 the outbreak had reached 2,898 confirmed cases and 14 deaths, with four patients in intensive care, the Times of Israel reported; more than 60 percent of cases involved children under five. Dr Uri Pollak, acting head of paediatric cardiac critical care at Hadassah Medical Center, told the paper that most fatalities were caused by patients reaching a hospital or a doctor too late.

Why an 11-month-old was unprotected

Under the routine Israeli schedule cited by the ministry, the first measles dose is given at age one, which leaves infants below that age dependent on the immunity of everyone around them. That is the mechanism the World Health Organization describes when it calls measles one of the world's most contagious diseases: a single infected person can generate up to 18 secondary infections, and the virus stays active in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours. The WHO also notes that children under five are at heightened risk of severe outcomes including pneumonia and encephalitis, and that an estimated 95,000 people died of measles worldwide in 2024, mostly children under five.

In outbreak areas Israeli health services brought that schedule forward, moving the second dose from age six to about 18 months and advising a first dose before the first birthday, the Times of Israel reported.

The coverage that slipped

A Bar-Ilan University study reported in November 2025 found that measles vaccination coverage in Israel had fallen from 94.3 percent before the COVID-19 pandemic to 91.6 percent afterwards, and that 6.6 percent of parents who had vaccinated older children before the pandemic chose not to immunise younger siblings born since. More than a third of parents surveyed reported declining trust in vaccines. "Even what appears as a small increase in the number of parents who choose not to vaccinate their younger children is enough to rapidly trigger the kind of outbreak that we're seeing now in Israel," Professor Michael Edelstein told the Times of Israel.

What the ministry did not say

The ministry did not give the infant's home town or community, and did not identify him; nor should it. It did not say how long he had been ill before admission, or give a case count for the outbreak as of the date of the announcement. It also did not say whether any of the 12 deaths involved children who had received a partial course of the vaccine.