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Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak Claims Fourth Death This Year

8 sources · updated 2026-09-17
Left 50% Center 50% Right 0%
1 left · 1 center · 0 right

What happened

Pennsylvania’s health department said an unvaccinated 18-year-old in Mifflin County died of measles-related encephalomyelitis and an unvaccinated 40-year-old woman in Jefferson County died of measles-associated respiratory failure, bringing the state’s measles-linked deaths to four in about a month — the first in 35 years. Two infants in Lancaster County had died earlier: a 6-week-old whose death the county coroner attributed to measles, and a newborn in whom measles virus was found in lung tissue but whose primary cause the coroner listed as a spleen laceration; the state classified both as measles-associated after investigations with coroners. Pennsylvania has reported nearly 700 measles cases this year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not added the four deaths to its national tally, saying it is reviewing records under a consistent national standard, while Pennsylvania says it submits death records daily. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of spreading falsehoods about the deaths after Kennedy questioned whether the infants died of measles and suggested they might have been “fabricated”; Shapiro later said he would refuse federal outbreak aid until the CDC confirms the four deaths.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 7 articles

6 of 7 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.

What these terms mean and how they're counted
On the record · names a source 6 of 7
On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Mifflin County coroner, Jefferson County coroner, Debra Bogen, Johns Hopkins University, Pennsylvania health department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Primary evidence · cites a document or data 2 of 7
Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: official statement, epidemiological data, letter
Credits another outlet 0 of 7
The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
Unnamed sources 0 of 7
The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
How it developed
When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 15, 18:41 UTC by NBC News, naming its source. First document within the hour, from The Guardian (official statement).
Not counted 0
Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out

Unpacked

Right-leaning coverage is simply thinner on the outbreak itself: it never states how large the caseload is, or that federal statistics still omit the fatalities. Left-leaning coverage at NBC News and The Guardian reports nearly 700 cases in Pennsylvania this year. Hospitalizations in the state have reached 133. It also describes a change in federal reporting that leaves the national tally with none of the state's four deaths. That omission is described as a "significant departure" from how the agency has operated. Left-leaning coverage leads with the deaths and the outbreak. Right-leaning coverage at the Washington Examiner leads with Shapiro blaming Kennedy, then with the governor saying he would "refuse any federal aid" until the CDC confirms the deaths. What standard does the CDC now use to decide whether a state-reported measles death enters the national count?
Bottom line

The Washington Examiner never gives Pennsylvania a case total for this outbreak. NBC News puts it near 700 and says the CDC still has not confirmed any of the deaths.

The receipts — 4 facts one side's coverage lacks
  • The two infants who died were not yet eligible for the MMR vaccine, typically first given around age 1 contextin NBC News, BBC · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested the infant deaths may have been fabricated official statementin NBC News, The Atlantic · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • Gov. Josh Shapiro said he would refuse any federal aid for the outbreak until the CDC confirms the four deaths official statementin Washington Examiner · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • The 18-year-old died of acute encephalomyelitis, a rare neurological complication of measles individual casein BBC, The Guardian · absent from right-leaning coverage
The Left View
Left-leaning sources treat the deaths as confirmation of a vaccine-preventable resurgence driven by falling immunization rates, and they describe the CDC’s refusal to count them as a “significant departure” from past practice of accepting state reports — including last year’s Texas and New Mexico deaths. They argue that other conditions do not make a measles death less real: doctors say the virus is still the underlying cause when patients “would not have died otherwise,” and Jefferson County Coroner Greg Furlong said of the 40-year-old, “If she wouldn’t have got the measles, would she still be alive today? I say yes.” They present Kennedy as undermining the response — he suggested the infant deaths may have been “fabricated,” accused Shapiro of “the weaponization of infectious disease fears for political gain,” and, in The Atlantic’s account, “appears more interested in scoring political points than boosting national vaccination rates,” including by keynoting the anti-vaccine group he founded. They also say reported cases understate the outbreak, citing untested household spread in Amish communities and a typical fatality rate of one to three per 1,000 infections.
The Right View
Right-leaning coverage, which is thinner here, centers on Shapiro’s clash with Kennedy rather than on independently re-trying cause of death. The Washington Examiner headlines the story as Shapiro blaming Kennedy for the deaths and, separately, as Shapiro saying he will “spurn federal measles aid until CDC confirms four deaths.” It presents Shapiro’s charge that Kennedy was directing the CDC not to report the deaths, and his subsequent refusal of federal help, as the political core of the episode following their public feud.
Our Take (balanced)
The left’s strongest argument is evidentiary: four deaths investigated with clinical findings, laboratory tests, and coroner review, plus last year’s precedent of the CDC counting state-announced measles deaths, support treating measles as the operative cause even where other conditions were present. The right’s strongest argument, on this record, is procedural and political: Shapiro converted a reporting dispute into a refusal of federal aid and a blame campaign against Kennedy, while the CDC’s stated rationale is a “consistent national standard” and a review of whether measles was the underlying cause. The central unresolved tension is whether the fight over counting and assistance is a good-faith argument about death classification or a proxy war over vaccine policy and responsibility for the outbreak.

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