Overview
- State health officials confirmed two additional measles-associated deaths on Tuesday, bringing Pennsylvania's total to four and reporting roughly 693 confirmed cases across about 38 counties.
- All four fatalities involved people who were not vaccinated against measles, including two infants too young for the MMR shot, an unvaccinated 18-year-old who died of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, and an unvaccinated 40-year-old who died of respiratory failure with chronic lung disease.
- The CDC has not yet added Pennsylvania's deaths to its national measles death tally and says it is working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to create a standardized definition for 'measles-associated' deaths.
- A published report that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked the CDC to remove references to Pennsylvania deaths has deepened a public federal–state dispute and intensified concerns about politicization and transparency in outbreak data.
- Health officials point to falling MMR coverage and that more than 99% of Pennsylvania cases are among unvaccinated people, and they are expanding vaccination clinics and outreach as the surge raises the risk of losing the country's measles-elimination status under upcoming international review.