Philadelphia health officials are partnering with the school district to set up free vaccination clinics at schools where measles immunization rates are lowest, as Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak continues to grow.

Two measles-related deaths were reported this week in Lancaster County, including a newborn. They are the first measles deaths in the state in 35 years. Lancaster County accounts for roughly half of the 424 confirmed measles cases in Pennsylvania in 2026, with 94 new cases in the last week alone. All of the people who have contracted measles have been unvaccinated, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said.

Nationally, there have been 2,777 confirmed measles cases in the United States, the highest level in 35 years and more cases than in any year since the country reached elimination status in 2000. Children account for more than 70 percent of those cases.

40 percent of Philly kindergarten classes fall short of herd immunity threshold

An Inquirer analysis of newly released data shows that roughly 40 percent of kindergarten classes at Philadelphia public schools last year had measles vaccination rates below 95 percent, the level needed to establish herd immunity.

“Things don’t magically go away when we hit 95.001%,” said James Garrow, deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. “Our goal is to vaccinate as many people as possible.”

Not one county in the Philadelphia region has reached the 95 percent threshold, said Dr. Ala Stanford, founder of the Black Doctors Consortium and Center for Health Equity. Overall, Pennsylvania has about a 93 percent measles vaccine coverage rate.

“A child does not receive their first measles shot until they are 12 months old, so every infant in this city in a stroller, in a car seat at the family reunion has no protection of their own. We are their protection,” Stanford said.

School clinics to launch in late September

Garrow said the city health department is working with the school district and medical partners to identify schools where vaccination rates are lowest and set up temporary clinics where students, with parental consent, can get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and other shots for free.

Those targeted efforts will begin in late September or early October, after the city and school district have fully analyzed vaccine data, said Dr. Kendra McDow, a school system medical officer with the School District of Philadelphia.

“We are seeing in real time the tragic consequences of children and adolescents not getting vaccinated,” McDow said at a news conference Thursday at Benjamin Franklin High School.

Representatives from the Black Doctors Consortium, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health joined McDow at the event. For the past two weeks, Philadelphia families registering children for school have been able to get needed vaccines, physicals, eye exams and mental health screenings at the same time.

Doctors stress trusted messengers over judgment

Measles is contagious four days before its signature rash appears, and the virus lingers in the air for two hours. Dr. Ericka Hayes, an infectious disease specialist and senior medical director of infection prevention at CHOP, called measles “one of, if not the most contagious pathogen to man.”

“There are a lot of parents out there who are trying to do the right thing and make the best medical decisions for their children, and they just don’t know,” Hayes said. “They are hearing very scary things in the media and from sources that are not vetted, and so is it any wonder that they would have some doubt around vaccines?”

Hayes said the key is reaching hesitant parents without judgment and providing evidence-based information from trusted sources. The targeted school clinics are expected to begin after vaccine data analysis is completed in the coming weeks.