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Editor’s note: Minutes after publishing this story, Pennsylvania Department of Health spokesperson Neil Ruhland responded to The Defender, stating: “This week, PA DOH confirmed two measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania. Both individuals were unvaccinated and tested positive for measles. PA DOH uses the term ‘measles-associated’ when laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present, but the disease may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death. Not all deaths are referred to a coroner under Pennsylvania law. Accordingly, one of the two measles-associated deaths is under investigation by the county coroner — as confirmed by the Lancaster County Coroner, who stated publicly that their office is reviewing an infant death with a positive measles test. The cases in which a coroner’s investigation should be conducted are generally outlined here.”
Pennsylvania health authorities on Tuesday announced two “measles-associated deaths” in unvaccinated individuals in Lancaster County, setting off a spate of media reports about rising measles rates, declining vaccination rates and the need to get vaccinated.
Citing privacy concerns, health officials declined to share any additional basic information about the deceased, including age, gender and overall health or underlying health conditions.
The announcement linked the deaths to measles, but did not disclose enough patient-specific evidence to determine the chain of events that led to their deaths, or whether measles was listed as the underlying cause of death on the death certificates.
“The only thing we know about them is that they were from Pennsylvania and unvaccinated. That’s it,” said Children’s Health Defense Senior Research Scientist Karl Jablonowski. “Were they 9 years old or 99 years old? Were they immunocompromised, pregnant, infants, battling cancer or perfectly healthy?”
“That information is on the wrong side of a privacy excuse,” Jablonowski added. “Health officials chose one characteristic to propagate to the public” — that the people who died were “unvaccinated.”
In a post on X, Lancaster Health Commissioner Josh Parsons lambasted the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s announcement. He questioned the lack of public evidence and sought clarification about whether the reported deaths occurred in Lancaster County and whether measles was the cause of death or merely a coexisting condition.
Parsons said the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office recorded no deaths caused by measles — only one death of someone who had measles. That information conflicts with the health department’s count of two “measles-associated deaths,” unless the cases fell outside the county coroner’s jurisdiction.
Parsons said government officials have not responded to his questions. “Transparency is owed to the people. It is incumbent on those who held the press conference to clear this up. Immediately.”
‘Big Business’: Vaccines generate $4.74 billion for Pennsylvania’s economy
CNN, NBC, The New York Times, MedPage Today and other media outlets linked the deaths to changing vaccine policy.
News reports emphasized the efficacy of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, and accused U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of downplaying measles infections and spreading “misinformation” about vaccines.
Kennedy offered support for Pennsylvania’s ongoing measles outbreak — the state has confirmed 393 cases of measles this year. Gov. Josh Shapiro declined Kennedy’s offer.
In a press conference, Shapiro blamed information from the federal government that “in some cases isn’t driven by facts and by science,” for confusing parents about vaccination.
Kennedy said on X that when pressed, Shapiro could not provide an example of Kennedy promoting misinformation.
He called Shapiro’s press conference “the same species of gaslighting” that the American people were subjected to during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
At his press conference today, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro accused me of promoting conspiracy theories because I told him, during an earlier telephone conversation, that some Americans had religious objections to the MMR vaccine because it contained fetal tissue. “There is…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 26, 2026
In a press conference last year, Shapiro said vaccines aren’t just good public health policy; they are also good for Pennsylvania’s economy. More than half of vaccines administered in the U.S. are produced in the state, generating $4.74 billion for Pennsylvania’s economy. Vaccines are “big business” for the state, he said.
Earlier this year, Shapiro said Pennsylvania was “poised for explosive innovation and growth in the life sciences industry” — and that’s exactly why Eli Lilly chose us for their $3.5 billion investment.
Neither the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office nor the Pennsylvania Department of Health responded to The Defender’s request for more information on the deaths.
Who’s to blame for measles outbreaks?
Most news reports connected the outbreak in Pennsylvania to reduced vaccination coverage and cited vaccination as the main preventive measure.
Cases of measles have been rising in the U.S., with 2,777 confirmed cases in 2026 as of late August — the highest number of infections since 1991, when there were over 9,000 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2025, 2,289 confirmed cases were reported.
In an interview with the University of Minnesota’s CIDRAP, vaccine advocate Dr. Paul Offit blamed Kennedy for the two measles-associated deaths, along with three others reported last year.
Vaccination rates have declined marginally since 2019, and remain high. Recent CDC data show that vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergartners has decreased from 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4% in the 2025-2026 school year.
Kennedy said on X that most of this decline happened during the Biden administration and resulted from a loss of public trust in vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CDC recommends children receive the measles vaccine at age 12 months and again between the ages of 4 and 6. The vast majority — between 73%-81% — of measles cases in 2025 and 2026 have occurred in people over the age of 5.
Noting that Kennedy has held office for only one-and-a-half years, Jablonowski suggested the health secretary can’t be responsible for vaccination decisions that people made before Kennedy’s policies could have possibly influenced them.
“The media is trying to use Secretary Kennedy as a politically convenient lightning rod for the measles outbreak,” Jablonowski said.
The CDC said on X that the MMR vaccine is the most effective protection against measles and offered condolences to the affected families.
Trump calls to break up MMR shot
President Donald Trump on Aug. 10 signed an executive order calling for sweeping changes to U.S. vaccine policy, including reducing the number of diseases for which kids receive routine childhood vaccines from 18 to 11.
The order also recommended splitting the MMR vaccine into three shots, delivered separately over 18 months. Currently, only the combined shot is available in the U.S.
The proposal revived Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s long-standing claim that administering the three viruses together in one vaccine could be riskier than administering them separately over time. Wakefield was later widely condemned and removed from the medical register — barring him from practicing medicine in the U.K.
For years, the MMR vaccine has been linked to a high number of adverse events. As of June 26, there were 95,296 adverse event reports filed since 1990 in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) following MMR vaccination, including 500 deaths, according to OpenVAERS.
Historically, fewer than 1% of adverse events are reported to VAERS.
According to Physicians for Informed Consent, there is no proof that measles causes more injuries or deaths than the MMR vaccine.
Many experts argue that splitting up the vaccine would reduce children’s risk of injury.
Spacing out the shots over separate visits reduces the amount of vaccine and adjuvant that a child’s immune system has to handle at once, which can reduce the child’s risk of vaccine-induced inflammation, particularly cerebral inflammation, which can be associated with autism.
At the signing of the executive order, Trump and Kennedy both mentioned a possible link between vaccines and increased autism rates in the U.S.
A monovalent measles vaccine hasn’t been available in the U.S. since 2009.
In a videotaped deposition of Dr. Stanley Plotkin, the inventor of the MMR vaccine, conducted by attorney Aaron Siri, Plotkin conceded that it was never tested in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial.
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‘Be aware. Don’t be afraid’
Measles, which causes a rash and fever, can be serious. Serious infections can lead to health complications, including diarrhea, dehydration, pneumonia and encephalitis, although deaths from measles are rare.
Although the illness is serious, health commentator and physician Dr. Joel Gator wrote on Substack that it’s important to keep the risk in perspective and resist the media’s attempt to create panic.
Gator argued that car crashes, drowning and cancer, for example, cause substantially higher rates of child deaths, yet there is no media hype around them.
He encouraged people to “Be aware. Don’t be afraid,” and said families should understand measles symptoms and spread as well as individual risk and prevention options.
“Understand your options. Put the risk into perspective. And don’t let someone else’s headline become your child’s anxiety,” he said.
Related articles in the Defender
- Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed at Reducing Number of Childhood Vaccines
- Infectious Disease Hype Is About Creating Markets, Not Real Health Threats
- No Proof MMR Vaccine Is ‘Safer’ than Measles, Mumps or Rubella Infection, Physician Group Says
- Texas Reports 8-Year-Old Died of ‘Measles Pulmonary Failure,’ CHD Requests Medical Records
- Media Panic Over Measles Distracts From Real Threats to Kids’ Health and Safety
- Texas Reports Death of Child Who Tested Positive for Measles, But Releases Few Details
- Breaking Up MMR Vaccine Will Benefit Kids — But It Could Be Years Before Single Shots Are Available
