US Federal Health Leaders Omit Two Pennsylvania Measles Deaths From National Toll
US federal health leaders have decided to exclude two recent measles‑related deaths reported in Pennsylvania from the national mortality tally.
“This is highly unusual,” said Dr. Debra Houry, former chief medical officer of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She noted that this situation was unprecedented, unlike the three measles deaths reported in Texas and New Mexico last year.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., newly appointed secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, offered contradicting figures during a recent interview with Fox News. He stated that over the past ten years there have been only three measles deaths in the United States—far fewer than the three infections linked to the Texas and New Mexico cases—but continued to claim the media and certain political figures habitually falsely alarm the public about infectious disease, arguing that the greatest threat today comes from food‑borne illnesses.
Last year the United States recorded three measles‑associated deaths—the first such fatalities in a decade—and one occurred in Pennsylvania in August, including at least one newborn who died shortly after birth.
Kennedy expressed skepticism about the cause of the Pennsylvania deaths, calling them “possibly fabricated” and suggesting that those individuals may have succumbed to other medical conditions while also having measles infection.
The CDC has not yet reported any measles‑related deaths for 2026.
On Friday the agency issued a statement indicating it was delaying its weekly update, leaving the total count at zero. By Sunday the measles landing page had been edited twice, originally exhibiting the additional deaths before being replaced with an asterisk.
An explanatory note from the CDC clarified that the two deaths would be omitted pending further investigation into the circumstances and causes of death, emphasizing that available information does not confirm whether measles caused or contributed to the fatalities or whether the victims died from other causes while infected.
This procedure diverges sharply from standard CDC practice, where states routinely submit reportable measles cases and the agency typically proceeds based on state notifications. Last year’s deaths in Texas and New Mexico were submitted by their respective states and included in the national tally, whereas Pennsylvania’s tragedies have been excluded through this provisional administrative review.
Houry warned that this anomalous handling risks undermining the collaborative partnership long maintained between the CDC and state health departments, noting that such an approach could erode existing cooperative relationships.
The CDC has not yet provided clarity on additional information it seeks regarding these cases or why previous data was deemed unreliable, with a spokeswoman’s brief remark on X highlighting that the official communications appeared politically motivated rather than focused on outbreak response.
Houry specifically characterized the late‑Friday message from the CDC as politically driven and not geared toward addressing the immediate crisis.
Reflecting on the earlier incident, an Amish couple in Lancaster County were interviewed by The Atlantic. Their newborn son lost his life almost verbatim “immediately after birth,” even though the mother exhibited vital signs and was gravely ill with measles and went into premature labor just one month before delivery. She conveyed her worry about rising measles rates while acknowledging the difficulty of obtaining vaccination due to pregnancy status, noting that the U.S. has recently fallen below critical thresholds needed to keep measles outbreaks at bay—protecting vulnerable groups such as infants, pregnant people, and other high‑risk populations.
The father, who reportedly received a voicemail requesting contact with Kennedy, chose not to respond.
Historically, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. led Children’s Health Defense, an anti‑vaccine advocacy organization, and in 2021 he publicly commended Lancaster County residents for opting against childhood immunizations, despite stating that the Amish hold little doctrinal objection to vaccines.
Although Kennedy subsequently pivoted to emphasizing food‑borne illness threats, he neither addressed nor commented on a cyclospora outbreak that infected more than 17,000 Americans this summer, describing it instead as being “under control.” Food‑borne incidents are likewise encompassed within the broader category of infectious diseases.
