{"id":835447,"date":"2026-09-03T21:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T21:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/835447\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T21:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T21:18:16","slug":"report-kennedy-intervened-to-prevent-2-deaths-from-being-included-in-cdc-measles-tally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/835447\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Kennedy intervened to prevent 2 deaths from being included in CDC measles tally"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directly intervened to remove two measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania<\/a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s online tally, according to a Reuters report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kennedy asked the new CDC director, Erica Schwartz<\/a>, to remove the reference from the agency\u2019s web page tracking measles<\/a> cases and deaths after questioning whether measles were linked to the fatalities \u2014 even after CDC officials had accepted state officials\u2019 assessment that the deaths were associated with the disease<\/a>, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

The report \u2014\u00a0based on three anonymous sources, including a Pennsylvania official \u2014\u00a0comes after the state health department announced last week that two unvaccinated people in Lancaster County had died after contracting measles. The measles-related deaths marked the first in the state in more than three decades and the first measles deaths in the U.S. this year. Officials have not publicly confirmed the ages and identities of the deceased, though one was reportedly an infant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In its release, the CDC said agency officials are reviewing details related to the circumstances and causes of the deaths, adding, \u201cAt this time, available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reuters said an HHS spokesperson did not specifically comment on Kennedy\u2019s or Schwartz\u2019s role in coming up with the final count on the CDC site.<\/p>\n

In a statement provided to MS NOW on Thursday, a spokesperson for HHS called the Reuters report \u201cfalse and misleading,\u201d adding that CDC officials made the decision regarding the measles reporting.<\/p>\n

\u201cCDC has a responsibility to ensure its reporting accurately distinguishes between what is known and what remains unconfirmed,\u201d the spokesperson said, adding that the information is the \u201cbest available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro publicly sparred in the aftermath<\/a> of the measles deaths, with Kennedy accusing the governor<\/a> of taking \u201cgiddy delight in announcing two measles deaths\u201d and alleging that \u201cthe deaths may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor\u2019s hopeful staffers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMore articles<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\"Julianne\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJulianne McShane<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJulianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directly intervened to remove two measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-835447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}