Kennedy Suggests Pennsylvania Measles Deaths Were 'Fabricated' as CDC Keeps Them Off the National Count During Record Outbreak

What Happened

On August 25, 2026, Pennsylvania's Department of Health confirmed "two measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania," both unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County, home to large Amish and Mennonite communities with low vaccination rates. They were the state's first measles deaths in 35 years. One was a newborn who had contracted measles before birth. HHS and the CDC initially posted condolences.

The next day, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reversed course in public. Speaking in Tampa, he said officials "cannot find any measles deaths in Lancaster County," and in a post on X he wrote that the announcement "appears to have been premature, and the deaths may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor's hopeful staffers." Pennsylvania Health Secretary Debra Bogen responded that she "sadly can confirm that there were two recent measles-associated deaths in Lancaster County," and the state health department explained that it uses the term "measles-associated" when laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present "but the disease may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death."

Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said the forensic pathologist identified the newborn's cause of death as a ruptured spleen; postmortem lung-tissue testing confirmed measles infection acquired before birth, and the coroner later said measles appeared on the death certificate as a contributing condition. Kennedy, who had called Gov. Josh Shapiro offering federal assistance that Shapiro declined, continued on Fox News on August 29 to refer to "so-called 'measles deaths.'" Shapiro said: "His actions and the rhetoric that's coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across, particularly right here in Pennsylvania," adding, "There's real-life consequences to spreading misinformation."

On August 30 the CDC declined to add the Pennsylvania deaths to its national measles dashboard, saying the available information did not establish whether measles caused or contributed to them. It subsequently moved to counting measles deaths from National Center for Health Statistics mortality data rather than state health department reports. On September 29, Reuters reported, the CDC confirmed two measles-related U.S. deaths for 2026 while Pennsylvania alone had reported four. "To the public, that gap looks like either incompetence or concealment," said Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The CDC said it was "working with state epidemiologists on a standard definition for measles-related deaths."

The Outbreak

The dispute played out during the largest U.S. measles year in decades. As of October 1, 2026, the CDC listed 3,887 confirmed cases, with cases among U.S. residents reported by 47 jurisdictions, and 95% of cases outbreak-associated. Through mid-September, the 2026 count was more than double the 2025 count at the same point, driven by South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Utah. On September 30 Pennsylvania announced a fifth measles-associated death, reporting 943 confirmed cases across 39 counties and at least 176 hospitalizations; the state administered more than 53,000 MMR doses in September, more than double its usual monthly rate.

Legal Analysis

The deaths themselves are not attributed here to any federal act. What this entry documents is the conduct of the federal health authority during an epidemic: the cabinet officer responsible for disease control publicly suggested, without evidence, that a state's death reports were fabricated by political staff, and the national surveillance agency then excluded those deaths from its count and changed its counting method mid-outbreak. Article 12(2)(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which the United States has signed but not ratified, identifies "the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic... diseases" as a core element of the right to health, and the International Health Regulations, which bind the United States, rest on accurate reporting and sharing of public health information. Accurate mortality data are part of outbreak control: they inform clinicians, parents weighing vaccination, and the allocation of response resources.

Why This Entry Is Rated Major

The rating reflects the conduct of the federal health authority during an active epidemic — the Secretary's public suggestion, without evidence, that a governor's staff may have fabricated the deaths, and the subsequent exclusion of the deaths from the national count — rather than any finding that federal action caused the deaths. The underlying degradation of federal outbreak capacity is documented in the related entry on HHS dismantlement.