Measles Deaths in Pennsylvania Deserve Facts, Not Conspiracy Theories

Pennsylvania has reported its first measles death in 35 years, two unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County. This tragedy should be a wake-up call: vaccines save lives, and measles is preventable. Instead, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is sowing doubt and conspiracy theories.

Kennedy refused to call Pennsylvania’s two measles fatalities deaths, referring to them as “casualties,” and claimed without evidence that “deaths may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor’s staffers”

That is reckless and dangerous.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is in regular contact with the CDC and reports measles cases weekly. Patient-specific information cannot be disclosed under HIPAA, particularly in a small community where details could identify the person who died.

The facts are straightforward: None of Pennsylvania’s measles cases so far have occurred in fully vaccinated people.

But this isn’t happening in a vacuum. Trump and Kennedy have pursued policies that undermine confidence in vaccines and weaken the nation’s public-health infrastructure, including executive actions targeting federal vaccine policy and guidance.

We cannot allow political ideology to replace science. Vaccines protect our children, our families, and our communities. Trump and Kennedy are putting that protection at risk. The consequences are not theoretical. They are costing lives.

Read more on Trumps war on vaccines here.