Controversy over this week's disclosure from the Pennsylvania Department of Health regarding two "measles-associated" deaths has escalated, the latest example of friction between federal public health and state-level leaders.
In a press conference announcing the deaths (see that coverage below the break), Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, placed much of the blame for a measles outbreak in his state at the feet of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Echoing the criticisms of professional organizations and public health experts, he said Kennedy's history of vaccine skepticism and tepid endorsements since becoming the country's top health official have reduced coverage in the state.
"The information that we see coming from the federal government in some cases isn't driven by facts or science," Shapiro said during the press conference. "It makes it even more confusing for parents, and that has a serious impact."
Shapiro also described a heated phone call he had with Kennedy shortly before the event over the secretary's rhetoric that culminated in the governor rejecting offered support from the federal government.
Kennedy, in subsequent media appearances and in an escalating social media feud, denied having a role in the outbreak or declining vaccination rates. He also accused the governor of using the announcement as a political platform and of "gaslighting" the public.
More recently, the secretary and his office have pounced on the governor over his refusal to share information regarding the deaths, which was initially limited to disclosures that the pair were unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County. The state later confirmed that one death was an infant, but has largely shied away from sharing more information with the public while citing privacy concerns.
On Wednesday Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons, a Republican, wrote on social media that he had looked into the deaths and heard from the Lancaster County Coroner's Office that there was only one death of a person "WITH measles, but not from measles."
That coroner later told press that the infant had died shortly after birth from an internal hemorrhage and ruptured spleen. He said the infant also had evidence of measles virus in their lung tissue, which could cause an enlarged spleen, but that he did not see evidence of enlargement, though he is continuing to investigate).
Pennsylvania's Secretary of Health, Debra Bogen, M.D., stood by the determination that the deaths were "measles-associated," and said late Wednesday that state had completed its epidemiological investigation before announcing the deaths. State officials have not shared more information on either death.
Kennedy, following Parsons' post, wrote on social media that "Governor Shapiro's unseemly rush to Lancaster County to convene a national press conference and his giddy delight in announcing two measles deaths was a morose commentary on the contemporary political dialogue. ... The announcement appears to have been premature, and the deaths may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor's hopeful staffers."
A day later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote on its official X account that it is still willing to offer expertise and vaccine prevention messaging support to Pennsylvania, but backed the secretary's "efforts to clarify conflicting information."
"CDC is working to determine what actually occurred," it wrote. "These discrepancies raise important questions, particularly because the Governor’s Office has not provided CDC with information relevant to the outbreak and has declined our offers of assistance. ... Under President Trump’s and Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, CDC will follow the facts and tell the American people the truth."
Paul Offit, M.D., director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and one of Kennedy's most prominent critics, said Friday that the state's decision not to share more information "would have been helpful" and had "unfortunately" led to speculation that the deaths were fabricated. Offit, in his own comments and those given to media, has noted that it is difficult to give a definitive determination of whether measles infection was the cause of the spleen rupture based on an autopsy alone.
"Given that congenital measles infection can cause splenic enlargement and thinning of the splenic capsule, it is likely that the child ruptured the spleen during birth," Offit wrote Friday.
Aug. 25, 2026
Pennsylvania reports US' first measles-associated deaths of 2026
Two people in Pennsylvania who have contracted measles have died, marking the first U.S. deaths this year related to the vaccine-preventable illness as well as the state’s first in 35 years.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed the measles-associated deaths Tuesday. The department did not disclose their names, ages or other potentially identifying information, but said that both were unvaccinated and lived in the state’s Lancaster County.
Pennsylvania is among the states that have been facing outbreaks of the disease this year. Its health department noted in the Tuesday statement that it has confirmed 393 cases across 28 counties in 2026—the third-highest tally nationwide behind South Carolina’s 670 and Utah’s 526, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Department of Health urged the public to report any potential measles exposure, and warned that the disease’s early symptoms can appear similar to other respiratory viral infections. Chiefly, the department stressed that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe and provides 97% lifetime protection after two doses.
“Because measles was largely eliminated in the Commonwealth for more than three decades, people are not familiar with this disease and don’t fully understand the potential severity of the illness,” Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Debra Bogen, M.D., said in Tuesday’s statement. “We want to ensure every Pennsylvanian has the information they need to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities. As a physician, I want to make sure that people understand that the MMR vaccine is safe and provides the best protection we have against measles.”
There have been 2,777 cases of measles reported to the CDC this year, up from 2025’s 2,289 and the highest single-year total since the early 1990s.
The incline has come alongside a decline in reported vaccination. This past week, for instance, the CDC reported that national vaccination coverage among kindergartners was 92.4% for the 2025-2026 school year, as opposed to 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year. Experts generally point to 95% coverage as the bar for herd immunity, a goal that only 11 states met during the most recent school year. The public health agency’s data also showed a jump in non-medical exemptions among students, from 1.9% of kindergartners in 2020-2021 to 4% in 2025-2026.
Public health and medical groups have broadly laid blame for both trends on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is affiliated with anti-vaccine groups and has publicly voiced skepticism about whether many long-recommended vaccines are safe—including in Pennsylvania.
Though the secretary, when pressed, has advised those facing outbreaks in their communities to seek a vaccine, his critics have described the endorsements as lukewarm and pointed to other actions the department has taken under his leadership to weaken confidence in vaccines and pare down the childhood vaccine schedule.
Among the most recent updates in this area came earlier this month when President Donald Trump signed an executive order that called for reducing the number of childhood vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 17 to 11, and also directed HHS to explore offering MMR inoculation as individual shots rather than as a combined vaccine. The changes were panned by major medical and infectious disease groups, some of which have been maintaining their own recommendations independent from those of health officials.
Following that executive order, HHS opened a Request for Information this week on how it may adjust its childhood vaccine recommendations and whether there should be a new way to categorize those shots by benefit, risk and available evidence.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement on the Pennsylvania deaths, encouraged parents and caregivers to speak with a pediatrician about MMR vaccination, which it recommends starting at one year of age and as young as six months for those living or traveling to areas with an active outbreak. The group also noted that community-wide herd immunity effectively extends protection to those too young to be vaccinated.
“In 2026, decades after measles was eliminated in the United States, it is heartbreaking to witness deaths from a disease that is preventable with a vaccine that has been widely used since the 1970s,” Andrew Racine, M.D., Ph.D., president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in the statement. “Today, pediatricians call on our leaders to encourage MMR vaccination to stop the spread of measles in our communities. Let us return to a time when measles was a disease pediatricians only saw in their textbooks, not in their exam rooms.”