The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is excluding two measles deaths reported by Pennsylvania health officials last week from its latest update of national measles data. The move publicly challenges the accuracy of the state’s death determinations in an extraordinary move that breaks precedent that states are the arbiters of case and death determinations, not the CDC.
The New York Times reported Monday that the CDC’s new director, Erica Schwartz, is behind the decision. Schwartz—less than a month into the job—reportedly ordered CDC staff to add an unusual statement onto the CDC’s website for measles surveillance data. The statement notes that the update will not include the deaths reported by Pennsylvania and continues: “At this time, available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles.”
The Washington Post reported Monday that the CDC had actually changed the information provided on that page multiple times over the weekend. On August 29 at 2:33 pm ET, the website listed the total measles deaths for 2026 as “0” in a chart. On August 30 at 12:09 pm ET, the chart was updated to list the total deaths for 2026 as “2.” There was also a note underneath the chart that read: “Health departments make determinations about measles-associated deaths and share relevant information with CDC.” By 3:23 pm ET on August 30, the chart was changed again to delete the two deaths, replacing them with an asterisk as a reference to the unusual statement about the deaths not being included. The asterisk and statement remain as of Tuesday.
The move comes after anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got into a public spat with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro over Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric. Kennedy then shared measles misinformation on social media amid news of the deaths, then suggested without evidence that the state may have “fabricated” the deaths and that the governor announced them with “giddy delight.”
State health officials initially refused to release information about the two people who died, including their ages, citing privacy concerns. But news has since trickled out that one of the people who died was a newborn and, according to reporting Tuesday by the Times, the other was a child. Both were unvaccinated and from Lancaster County. Outside medical experts have criticized the lack of information provided by health officials, leaving more space for doubt and misinformation.
What we know about the deaths
Controversy about the deaths flared after Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni, a Republican first elected coroner in 2007, claimed that a pathologist determined that the newborn died of a ruptured spleen and didn’t believe measles played a role. The baby was born infected with the virus, according to testing, and had evidence of a measles infection in lung tissue. The newborn’s mother was severely ill from measles at the time of birth, according to reporting from The Atlantic, which spoke with the baby’s parents amid the uproar.
The parents, who are Amish, were not aware that their baby’s death was in the national news and a source of contention. They believed without question that their baby died of measles. The mother said she contracted the virus amid the ongoing local outbreak and after several of her other children had fallen ill. She became so ill she couldn’t speak above a whisper and “didn’t have a single piece of energy” as she went into labor. The baby was born with a pulse, but was not breathing. The baby, a boy, was declared dead less than a half-hour later, after paramedics had been called and attempted to give the newborn oxygen and chest compressions, the parents said.
Measles can cause a baby’s spleen to enlarge and the fibrous tissue around the organ to thin. In such a vulnerable state, the spleen can rupture during birth. Diamantoni has claimed that the pathologist who examined the newborn didn’t report an enlarged spleen. But after a spleen ruptures, it can be difficult to determine whether it was previously enlarged or not, according to Paul Offit, a vaccine and pediatric infectious disease expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Overall, a ruptured spleen is extremely rare in newborns, he says.
Offit told reporters that he has been in touch with state officials and learned enough about the two deaths to say that “these patients would not have died were it not for measles.” He has publicly called for the coroner to provide an alternative explanation for the baby’s ruptured spleen if it was not from measles.
Far less is publicly known about the second death, which was reported as being in a child as of Tuesday. Although Diamantoni is the coroner for Lancaster County, where both the deceased baby and child lived, the county does not have its own local health department and gets information from the state health department. Diamantoni told The Washington Post late Monday that he had only recently received information about the second death and that his office is still working to determine the cause of death. It’s unclear on what grounds they are challenging the state’s determination that it was caused by measles without having the information previously.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda
Last week, amid Kennedy’s comments, the CDC said on social media that “CDC is working to determine what actually occurred” and claimed that the “Governor’s Office has not provided CDC with information relevant to the outbreak and has declined our offers of assistance.”
The state’s health department officials said they reported the deaths to CDC staff on August 25 prior to their public announcement and met with CDC officials the next day.
As a spokesperson for the state health department told the Times, “Every reported measles case is thoroughly reviewed to confirm it meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) case definition for a measles case. To date, [the state health department] has provided all required epidemiological data to the CDC.”
As an ardent anti-vaccine activist, Kennedy has a long history of spreading vaccine misinformation and disinformation, downplaying the severity and risks of vaccine-preventable diseases and spreading doubt and misinformation about vaccine-preventable deaths. Amid the pandemic, Kennedy and like-minded allies similarly assailed reports of deaths from COVID-19, arguing that they were deaths “with” the deadly virus and not “from” it. While Kennedy’s pattern is clear, outside experts have raised concerns about whether new CDC director Schwartz—who has championed the use of vaccines in the past—would stand up to Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda.
The CDC’s decision to challenge the death determinations of Pennsylvania health officials appears to confirm those fears and stand to exacerbate the flagging public health systems in the US, experts say. “This is a moment for the CDC director to speak publicly about the outbreak,” Debra Houry, CDC’s former chief medical officer, told the Times. “Delays in reporting of data further erode trust and create confusion.”
