{"id":750040,"date":"2026-08-26T06:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T06:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/750040\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T06:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T06:42:12","slug":"pennsylvania-reports-first-us-measles-deaths-this-year-amid-outbreak-us-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/750040\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania reports first US measles deaths this year amid outbreak | US News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two Americans have died from measles, the first such deaths this year in the US, as the country grapples with the highest number of cases in more than three decades.<\/p>\n<p>Health officials said on Tuesday that the two Pennsylvania residents were both unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County.<\/p>\n<p>Pennsylvania has been one of the hardest-hit states this year, with 393 measles cases across 28 counties so far.<\/p>\n<p>Lancaster County, in the south-eastern part of the \u200cstate, has had 185 cases, but these were the first measles deaths recorded in the state in 35 years.<\/p>\n<p>So far this year, the US has had 2,777 confirmed measles cases, a disease that had been largely eradicated in the country.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/download-app\" target=\"blank\" data-tracking-description=\"link|ui-app-promo-download-link\" data-tracking-label=\"ui-app-promo-download-link\" class=\"ui-app-promo sdc-article-widget\" data-type=\"\" data-component-name=\"ui-app-promo\" data-partial-view-category=\"notification\" data-partial-view-content=\"ui-app-promo\" data-partial-view-type=\"notifications\" data-partial-view-section=\"page\" data-partial-view-value=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/download-app\" data-testid=\"app-promo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><\/p>\n<p>    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Among the factors contributing to the increase in infections is the declining vaccination rates.<\/p>\n<p>Vaccination rates of 95% or higher can prevent outbreaks by creating what is known as herd immunity that protects people unable to be vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>Two doses of the Measles-Mumps-Rubella shot provide 97% protection against the virus.<\/p>\n<p>Children typically first receive the vaccine when they are 12 to 15 months old and again at age four to six years of age.<\/p>\n<p>According to Pennsylvania Department of Health data for the 2025-2026 school year, 93.2% of Pennsylvania kindergarten-age children had received the required two doses of MMR vaccine, down from 93.7% during the 2024-2025 school year.<\/p>\n<p>In Lancaster County, 87.6% of kindergarten students received the required two MMR doses during the 2025-2026 school year.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/skynews-mmr-measles_7331119.jpg\"   alt=\"MMR vaccines sit inside a medical refrigerator in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Pic: Reuters\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        MMR vaccines sit inside a medical refrigerator in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n<p>Read more from Sky News:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/man-dies-after-getting-into-difficulty-swimming-off-devon-coast-13576976\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Man dies after getting into difficulty swimming off coast<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/uk\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Boy attacked in crocodile enclosure back home<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The number of US measles cases in 2026 is the highest in a single year since the major resurgence between 1989 and 1991, when 55,000 infections and 123 deaths were recorded.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Because measles was largely eliminated in the Commonwealth for more than three decades, people are not familiar with this disease and don&#8217;t fully understand the potential severity of the illness,&#8221; said Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Debra Bogen.<\/p>\n<p>Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr and President Donald Trump have in the past promoted a long-debunked link between vaccines and autism, contrary to established \u200cscientific evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Mr Trump issued an executive order calling for a reduction in recommended childhood vaccines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Americans have died from measles, the first such deaths this year in the US, as the country&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-750040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}