An outbreak that gives no respite
The official figures paint a worrying picture. In just twelve days, confirmed cases of measles in Tabasco went from 7 to 21. The state rose from 25th to 16th place nationally in less than a month.
The local Ministry of Health is trying to put order in the narrative. He specifies that, of those 21 cases, 4 are from last year and 17 are from this 2026. His call is clear: take extreme precautions and go get vaccinated.
“Cases have already been registered in some schools such as the ‘Ignacio Manuel Altamirano’ secondary school, Federal 2 of Villahermosa,” acknowledges the official statement.
Politics comes into play
While the health authorities ask for calm and vaccines, the political opposition charges against the management. María del Carmen García May, general secretary of the PRI in the state, does not bite her tongue.
“There is an outbreak throughout the country… measles has arrived again in Mexico and is taking lives,” he said.
His speech is direct: he demands from Governor Javier May a clear explanation about the actions to stop infections. And he sends a warning looking at the neighbor.
“The neighboring state of Chiapas has canceled and suspended many massive events because they have a serious problem… We as neighbors must be alert.”
The national context does not help. According to preliminary data, in the third week of the year, 7,732 accumulated cases were already reported throughout the country. Chihuahua leads with more than 4,500 infections, followed by Jalisco and Chiapas.
Memory is fragile, but numbers don’t lie. The country’s first confirmed case was reported almost a year ago. Now, with active outbreaks in several states and an upward curve in Tabasco, the question floating in the air is simple: was anything learned from the past?
