A seven-county region of Northeast Pennsylvania has yet to record a measles case despite the climbing number of cases confirmed statewide eclipsing 800, state Department of Health data shows.
There were 835 Pennsylvania cases of the highly contagious viral respiratory disease confirmed so far this year as of Wednesday, with cases confirmed in 39 of the state’s 67 counties.
No cases have yet been confirmed in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne or Wyoming counties, though nearby Schuylkill County recently registered its first confirmed measles case in more than two decades. In the broader region, Bradford County has also registered a single case, while two cases have been confirmed in Columbia County, per the state data.
A 3D model shows a visualization of the measles virus. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/TNS)
Lancaster County remains the hardest hit in the state, accounting for 342 of the 835 total cases, followed by Mifflin County with 94, Chester County with 78, Snyder County with 39, Jefferson County with 36 and York County with 32. Less than 1% of the individuals confirmed to have contracted measles in Pennsylvania were fully vaccinated against the disease that had hospitalized 164 patients this year as of Wednesday.
The number of “measles-associated” deaths statewide still stands at four: two in Lancaster County and one each in Mifflin and Jefferson counties, respectively.
The deaths of two Lancaster County infants infected with measles, announced in late August, marked the first deaths related to measles in Pennsylvania in 35 years. An 18-year-old Mifflin County resident and a 40-year-old Jefferson County woman, both of whom were unvaccinated and died of measles complications, accounted for the other two, according to the Associated Press.
Pennsylvania’s ongoing measles outbreak comes after the state recorded just 16 confirmed cases of the disease in 2025 and follows a yearslong trend of declining vaccination rates. The state’s outbreak is also contributing to the most severe national surge in measles cases in more than three decades, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting about 3,471 confirmed 2026 cases across the country as of last week — considerably more than the 2,289 confirmed measles cases reported in the U.S. all of last year and the 285 U.S. cases confirmed in 2024.
State and federal officials, particularly Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have publicly clashed over measles’ role in deaths reported by the state. In a Sept. 15 social media post referencing the two most recent measles-associated deaths, Shapiro accused Kennedy of “playing games with public health and safety” and of “stoking vaccine skepticism and misinformation and compromising the serious mission of the nation’s public health agencies.”
“It is also deeply concerning to learn that the Secretary personally intervened in an otherwise administrative process to direct the CDC to not report these Pennsylvania deaths, presumably because it doesn’t fit his phony narrative,” Shapiro charged in the post.
As of its last update Sept. 18, the CDC continues to list just one 2026 U.S. measles death on its website.
Kennedy responded to Shapiro in his own social media post Sept. 15, accusing the governor of politicizing the outbreak and of refusing federal assistance “that might help end” it.
“Governor Shapiro’s claim that I directed CDC to suppress Pennsylvania deaths is false,” Kennedy said in his post. “CDC is applying a consistent national standard rather than allowing politicians to decide which deaths appear in federal mortality statistics. CDC will report measles-caused deaths when the National Center for Health Statistics reports measles as the underlying cause based on death record information submitted by the states.”
Kennedy also said the CDC’s measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine recommendation “remains unchanged,” noting he has “repeatedly stated that MMR vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles infection.”
Shapiro subsequently addressed the measles outbreak while fielding media questions during an appearance in Scranton on Sept. 18. He endorsed and called for unvaccinated individuals to get the MMR vaccine while again accusing Kennedy of stoking vaccine skepticism.
Gov. Josh Shapiro offers remarks at an event marking the completion of the restoration of the Fidelity Bank Headquarters on Linden Street in Scranton on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
“Sadly, because of the dangerous rhetoric of our now-Health Secretary RFK and others like him, they’ve stoked such misinformation and disinformation and skepticism in our public health system that fewer and fewer people are getting vaccinated,” Shapiro said. “And if you want to, draw a direct line from their stoking of disinformation to the declining rates of measles vaccines to the sharp rise in the number of measles cases that we’re experiencing here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
The dispute notwithstanding, health officials and local doctors alike agree the MMR vaccine remains the best way to protect against measles. The state health department had administered nearly 8,000 doses of the vaccine in 2026 as of Wednesday.
Staff writer Jim Lockwood contributed to this report.