Overview
- Multiple news outlets reported on Thursday that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked CDC Director Erica Schwartz to remove two Lancaster County deaths from the agency’s public measles death table and the CDC added a note saying available information does not establish causation.
- Pennsylvania officials notified the CDC on August 25 that two unvaccinated people had tested positive for measles and described the deaths as “measles-associated,” while the Lancaster County coroner said one newborn had measles but died of a ruptured spleen.
- HHS says CDC requested clinical details needed to decide if measles caused or contributed to the deaths, and Pennsylvania says it has provided all required epidemiological data but could not share identifiable medical records because of state privacy rules.
- Sources told Reuters that CDC staff initially accepted the state’s characterization before Kennedy intervened and that Director Schwartz implemented the removal without objection, a sequence public health leaders called highly unusual.
- The dispute comes as Pennsylvania reports about 540 measles cases and the U.S. has seen thousands of cases this year, and experts warn that political fights over data and classification can weaken public trust, hamper contact tracing, and complicate vaccination outreach.