CDC removes Pennsylvania deaths

What's happened

Federal officials have removed two Pennsylvania fatalities from the CDC’s public measles death tally and said they are reviewing whether measles caused those deaths. Pennsylvania has reported two unvaccinated Lancaster County residents died during a large local outbreak; U.S. measles cases in 2026 have reached their highest levels in decades.

What's behind the headline?

What is really happening

• The CDC has removed two Lancaster County deaths from its public measles death tally and is reviewing whether measles caused or contributed to those deaths. That action has shifted a state health announcement into a federal review.

Who is driving the story

• Pennsylvania officials have reported two unvaccinated Lancaster County residents as measles-associated deaths. Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni has told media that one six-week-old infant died of measles and that a newborn tested positive but died from a ruptured spleen. At the same time, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly questioned the state’s report and pressed the CDC to revise its public data.

Why this matters now

• The U.S. has recorded its highest measles case count in decades in 2026. Reporting disagreements between state health officials and the federal CDC will change public trust and public-health messaging during an active outbreak.

Likely consequences

• The CDC’s review will delay inclusion of these deaths in official national counts and will increase scrutiny of how states and federal agencies communicate during outbreaks. That will force states to provide clearer, documented case and death reports and will increase political pressure on the CDC and HHS.

What to watch next

• Whether the CDC’s review finds records that list measles as the underlying or contributing cause of death, and whether the agency restores the deaths to its public tracker. Expect additional public statements from Pennsylvania health officials, the county coroner, and CDC leadership.

How we got here

Measles cases have surged in 2026 after vaccination rates fell. Pennsylvania has reported hundreds of cases and officials said two unvaccinated residents in Lancaster County died; the CDC has questioned whether measles caused both deaths and removed them from its public tracker while it reviews records.

Our analysis

The coverage divides on two points: whether measles caused both deaths and on the CDC's response. Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni told The Associated Press that one baby, Mary Stoltzfus, was a six-week-old who "died of measles" and that a newborn, Ivan Miller, tested positive for measles but "died from a ruptured spleen," with measles listed on the certificate as a contributing condition (AP News). LancasterOnline and Ars Technica reported similar coroner statements that the infant with Amish lethal microcephaly died of measles and that the newborn's spleen laceration was judged unrelated to measles. The New York Times and Reuters reporting, summarized by Ars Technica and the Independent, said CDC director Erica Schwartz ordered the deaths removed from the agency’s public tracker while the agency reviewed additional information. Al Jazeera and the Independent quoted Pennsylvania officials and public-health experts who warned that political intervention — notably from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who publicly questioned the deaths — is undercutting trust in the CDC. Bloomberg and the American Medical Association have documented wider fallout: medical societies are creating independent review mechanisms because they "have lost trust" in CDC guidance. Read the AP for coroner quotes and the CDC’s position; read Ars Technica and the Independent for the timeline of how the CDC added and removed the deaths from its tracker; read Al Jazeera and Bloomberg for analysis of political pressure on federal public-health agencies.

Go deeper

• How will the CDC decide whether a death is measles-associated?
• Will Pennsylvania release medical records or autopsy reports to the CDC?
• Will the CDC restore the deaths to its public tracker if it finds supporting records?

More on these topics

• United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Public agency

  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a national public health institute in the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

• Pennsylvania - US State

  Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the Northeastern, Great Lakes, Appalachian, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle.

• Lancaster County - County in Pennsylvania

  Lancaster County locally, sometimes nicknamed the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the south central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 519,445. Its county seat i

• Measles - Viral disease affecting humans

  Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German masel(e), meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by measles virus. Other names include morbilli, rubeola, 9-day measles, red measles

• United States - Country in North America

  The United States of America, commonly known as the United States or America, is a country mostly located in central North America, between Canada and Mexico.

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - American politician, environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist (born 1954)

  Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954), also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, author, conspiracy theorist, and anti-vaccine activist serving as the 26th United States secretary of health and human

• Josh Shapiro - Pennsylvania Attorney General

  Joshua David Shapiro is an American politician and lawyer currently serving as the Attorney General of Pennsylvania. He previously served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and as chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.

• Paul A. Offit - American pediatrician

  Paul Allan Offit is an American pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases, vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine. Offit is the Maurice R.

• Mexico - Country in North America

  Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea

• United States Department of Health and Human Services - Government department

  The United States Department of Health & Human Services, also known as the Health Department, is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential

• Texas - US State

  Texas is a state in the South Central Region of the United States. It is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population.

• World Health Organization

  The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution, which establishes the agency's governing structure and principles, states its main objective as "the attainment

• White House - Official residence and office of the President of the United States

  The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 when the national...

• Howard Hughes Medical Institute - Foundation

  The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953, by Howard Hughes who was an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer...

• American Public Health Association - Professional association

  The American Public Health Association is a Washington, D.C.-based professional organization for public health professionals in the United States. Founded in 1872 by a group of physicians, including Dr. Stephen Smith and Dr. Henry Hartshorne, APHA has mor

• Lancaster - City in central Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States

  Lancaster is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth-most populous city in the state. It is a core city within South Central Pennsylvania, with 552,984 residents in the Lancaster metropolitan area. Settled in the 1720s, Lancaster is one of the oldest inland cities in the US. It served as the capital of Pennsylvania from 1799 to 1812. The city's primary industries include healthcare, tourism, public administration, manufacturing, and both professional and semi-professional services. Lancaster is located 59 miles (95 km) southwest of Allentown and 61 miles (98 km) west of Philadelphia and is a hub of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

• Reuters - News organization company

  Reuters is an international news organization owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs some 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. The agency was established in London in 1851 by the German-born Paul Reuter.

• Ars Technica

  Ars Technica is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998.

• Associated Press - News agency company

  The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. Its members are U.S. newspapers and broadcasters.

• Asia - Continent

  Asia is Earth's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the Eastern and Northern Hemispheres. It shares the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe and the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Af

• Philadelphia - Largest city in Pennsylvania, United States

  Philadelphia ( FIL-ə-DEL-fee-ə), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a Census-estimated population of 1,574,281 in July 2025. The..

• The Atlantic - Magazine

  The Atlantic is an American lifestyle magazine and multi-platform publisher. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, Massachusetts, as The Atlantic Monthly, a literary and cultural commentary magazine that published leading writers' commentary on the abolition

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - Health care company

  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the United States' largest philanthropy focused solely on health; it is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The foundation's goal, through the use of grants, is "to improve the health and health care of all Americans." Th

• Canada - Country in North America

  Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest c