Shapiro, RFK Jr. continue to butt heads over measles reporting in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are continuing to butt heads over reporting measles in the state.
This comes after Shapiro held a press conference last week announcing two “measles-associated” deaths in Pennsylvania.
The Lancaster County Coroner confirmed on Friday that a baby girl did die from measles. The infant also had Amish lethal microcephaly.
The coroner determined that a different infant, who died on Aug. 14, died from a ruptured spleen, even though they did have measles.
Shapiro said on social media on Friday that Kennedy Jr. chose to sow doubt and play politics, leading to what the governor calls a firestorm of conspiracy theories that denied families’ pain, invaded their privacy and undermined public health.
This content is imported from x. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported our Commonwealth’s first two measles-associated deaths in 35 years.
Then, instead of listening to the real doctors and public health experts, RFK chose to sow doubt, play politics, direct the CDC not to acknowledge these… https://t.co/loom4e3gYo
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) September 4, 2026
Kennedy Jr. responded, saying “The facts emerging now demonstrate why CDC waited for the evidence rather than allowing political grandstanding to dictate its reporting. Governor Shapiro, by contrast, politicized these two tragic deaths before the underlying causes had been established.”
This content is imported from x. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
The facts emerging now demonstrate why CDC waited for the evidence rather than allowing political grandstanding to dictate its reporting. Governor Shapiro, by contrast, politicized these two tragic deaths before the underlying causes had been established.
The Lancaster County… https://t.co/VnXuAoMM3C
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) September 4, 2026
Lancaster County Republican Commissioner Josh Parsons also weighed in.
“Any measles death would be required to be reported to the county coroner by law and no case was reported,” said Parsons. “We still do not now if this death was the second ‘measles-associated’ death reported by the governor last week.”
CDC measles update
The CDC’s official measles outbreak update was released on Friday, but it still does not show any measles-related deaths in the U.S. so far this year.
Previously the CDC did list two measles-related deaths after accepting the data from state health leaders.
According to Reuters, Kennedy Jr. asked his new CDC director to remove a reference to the two Pennsylvania deaths from the agency’s online measles tally.
Sources say Kennedy Jr. questioned whether the disease contributed to the fatalities and the new director made the change without objection.
After the coroner’s announcement on Friday, Kennedy Jr. said on X that the CDC will update its reporting as additional information becomes available.