Top US health officials and government agencies are currently not including the two recent measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania in their counts. She noted that this did not happen with the three deaths reported from measles in Texas and New Mexico last year. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), gave the wrong number of measles deaths in a recent interview with Fox News.
There were three deaths associated with measles in the US last year, the first deaths from the virus in a decade. But Pennsylvania also reported two measles-related deaths in August, including at least one newborn who died soon after birth. Kennedy has suggested that these two deaths were “fabricated”.
The CDC has also stopped short of reporting deaths from measles in 2026. The agency posted a note on Friday saying it was delaying its weekly update, keeping the number at zero. On Sunday, the measles landing page appears to have been updated twice, with the two deaths first reported and then replaced with an asterisk.
The CDC will not include the two deaths reported by Pennsylvania “while CDC reviews additional information regarding the circumstances and causes of death”, an explanatory note reads. The agency added that “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”. This is not how deaths reported by states to the CDC are typically handled.
The deaths in Texas and New Mexico last year, for instance, were reported by the two states and included in the CDC’s national tally. Usually, “states notify CDC of reportable cases on things such as measles. CDC does not review or adjudicate these cases unless a state asked for additional assistance”, Houry said.
The unusual approach will likely affect the agency’s relationship with the states that report to it. The agency is “working to determine what actually occurred”, according to a post on X sent by an HHS spokesperson in response to the Guardian’s inquiries. An Amish couple in Lancaster county interviewed by the Atlantic said their newborn son died immediately after birth.
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