US measles outbreak 2026
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Trump administration changes measles death counting methods amid Pennsylvania outbreak
The CDC is now using data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) to count measles deaths.
HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. previously argued without evidence that the two earlier measles deaths may not be from measles and asked CDC director Erica Schwartz not to count them in the official CDC tally, according to reporting by Reuters.
HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said the CDC will report measles deaths only when NCHS reports measles as the underlying cause of death.
“CDC’s recommendation for the MMR vaccine has remained unchanged, and the Secretary has repeatedly said that the MMR vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent measles infection,”
Third person dies of measles in the US
There have been 3,294 cases of measles in the US so far in 2026 according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Both previous measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania were in Lancaster County.
Lancaster County has accounted for 295 of the measles cases in Pennsylvania in 2026.