CDC Director Excludes 2 Pennsylvania Measles Deaths as RFK Jr.-Shapiro Dispute Deepens
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 31
CDC Director Excludes 2 Pennsylvania Measles Deaths as RFK Jr.-Shapiro Dispute Deepens
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 31
Summary
Two Pennsylvania measles-associated deaths were left out of the CDC’s weekly national tally on orders from new director Erica Schwartz, according to three current and former officials familiar with the decision.
The CDC has delayed adding the deaths while reviewing whether measles caused or contributed to them, an unusual step after the agency had already marked the cases with asterisks in prior updates.
The omission sits at the center of a political fight between HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, after Kennedy questioned the deaths and suggested they were fabricated.
Pennsylvania has reported 460 measles cases and 83 hospitalizations in 2026, and the dispute risks further straining CDC-state relations over how outbreak deaths are counted.