>My advice: watch argument and counterargument as people jostle for advantage. Easiest way to assess: compare each claim to the reality that the US had eliminated Measles by 2000. Any rationalization that doesn't explain "what the heck happened since" is junk science.
>

I have no strong opinion/explanation on "what the heck happened" since 2000.

Blaming it on the increase in child immigration doesn't account for that the fact that (if the World Bank stats are to be trusted) neighboring countries report an even higher vaccination rate that we have in the U.S. So I'm not sure I believe the immigration argument. It's a bit too convenient.

But I'm also skeptical of the tie to the somewhat lower rate of immunization - the numbers here would indicate we' as a country would have needed a much longer period of lowered immunization rates to see an outbreak.

So, as you are a medical doctor and I am not - what's your educated guess on the outbreak? Or do you really consider it an outbreak? Is it just an outlier fluke, or did it happen for specific reasons? Like I said, I truly don't know.