The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not plan to fundamentally change its measles outbreak response if the country loses its elimination status this month, CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz told Reuters on Tuesday. She said the agency would continue working with states.

Global health experts convened by the Pan American Health Organization are expected to determine in the coming days whether the US has lost its official status as a country free of measles. Schwartz said she expected PAHO to reach a decision by early next week.

The status has been a public health achievement held by the US since 2000. Many disease experts say the country is likely to lose it as infections climb to their highest level in more than three decades.

Thousands of Americans have contracted measles since early 2025, when the Trump administration took office. The rising case count has intensified scrutiny of the federal response and the nation’s vaccination rates.

“Let’s say we did lose our measles elimination status. We’re going to be doing the same exact thing that we’ve been doing today, which is working with the states,” Schwartz said in an interview.

Schwartz said the CDC would ensure “we are leaning in to help them provide awareness about measles, emphasizing, reemphasizing that the number one way to prevent measles is the MMR (combined measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine.”

Confirmed as CDC director in August, Schwartz inherited a major outbreak that has worsened since last year. Nearly 5,200 cases have been confirmed in 2026, compared with 2,289 during all of 2025.

State health departments have reported 11 deaths since early last year. The expanding outbreak has placed the CDC’s strategy and its vaccine messaging under mounting attention as officials await the PAHO decision.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the CDC and other health agencies, has questioned the safety and efficacy of the MMR vaccine for years. As the nation’s top health official, he has sought to reduce the number of childhood immunizations.

Medical experts have said Kennedy’s rhetoric and actions have contributed to falling vaccination rates. Schwartz, however, identified closely knit communities as the primary source of measles infections in the US.

Several outbreaks have begun among religious groups with vaccination rates lower than those of the general population. The source cited the Amish in Pennsylvania as one example.

“These communities typically don’t vaccinate their children. … Their families were making decisions about the MMR vaccine 20 to 30 years ago, and we’re just now seeing the results of those decisions,” Schwartz said.

She added, “The real focus is why are we not leaning in on these close-knit communities to make sure that they understand that the number one way of preventing measles is the MMR vaccine.”

In August, shortly after Schwartz was confirmed, President Donald Trump and Kennedy unveiled an executive order calling for the MMR vaccine to be divided into three separate shots. Pharmaceutical companies said developing that approach could take years.

Doctors said separating the shots would create more confusion among families. The proposal came as the country was already confronting the worsening outbreak and the possibility of losing the elimination status it had maintained since 2000.

Schwartz also rejected reports suggesting Kennedy and his top deputies had pressured her or the CDC. She said she communicates with Kennedy every day and described responsibility for the agency’s decisions as resting with her.

“What has been very clear to me is that the secretary has recognized that I am the director of the CDC, and these decisions and the focus of where we’re going with the CDC rests on my shoulders,” Schwartz said. “At the end of the day, he recognizes that the reason why I’m sitting in this chair is because the CDC needs a leader.”