A fifth, unvaccinated person has died of measles in Pennsylvania, the state’s health department announced Wednesday.
The department identified the deceased as a resident of Lancaster County, which is the epicenter of a raging outbreak that began in late April. The updated case count as of Wednesday is 943 across 39 counties, including 119 cases reported in just the last seven days. At least 176 people have been hospitalized.
Lancaster County has reported 381 cases and three of the five deaths in the outbreak. The previous two deaths were both in infants too young to be vaccinated. That includes a newborn boy and a 6-week-old baby girl. So far, no other information has been released about the county’s third death announced today.
The other two deaths were in an unvaccinated 18-year-old resident of Mifflin County, who developed a severe neurological complication of measles, and an unvaccinated 40-year-old woman, who had several chronic underlying health conditions that put her at higher risk of severe infection, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Prior to these five deaths in Pennsylvania, the state had not reported a measles death in 35 years. To date, they are the only measles deaths reported this year in the US. Last year, the US saw three measles deaths: two in otherwise-healthy, unvaccinated school-aged children in Texas and an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. All three were connected to a massive measles outbreak in West Texas, which spilled over to nearby states. Prior to the 2025 deaths, the US had not seen a measles death since 2015.
Measles was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 thanks to high vaccination rates. But amid misinformation from anti-vaccine activists—including current US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—vaccination rates have continuously slipped in recent years, vaccination exemptions have hit an all-time high, and the highly infectious virus has come roaring back.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tallied at least 3,659 cases this year, a tally higher than last year’s and the highest on record since 1991. Still, under the influence of Kennedy, the CDC has resisted reporting the deaths in Pennsylvania, instead altering the criteria for what it counts as a measles death. Currently, the CDC is reporting only two deaths. It’s unclear which two have been counted.
Meanwhile, health officials in Pennsylvania are racing to vaccinate residents amid the deadly outbreak. The health department reports that state nurses have administered more than 8,500 doses of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine this year, including more than 5,500 doses given at pop-up clinics in outbreak areas.
“The best protection against measles remains getting fully vaccinated,” the health department reiterated Wednesday. “The MMR vaccine, administered over two doses, boosts a person’s immune system and provides 97 percent lifetime protection.”
