Pennsylvania’s announcement of two additional measles-associated deaths has renewed a public dispute between Gov. Josh Shapiro and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who have been sparring over public health measures in the state for weeks.
The deaths bring the state’s total to four this year — its first measles-associated deaths in 35 years. Pennsylvania has recorded 693 cases across 38 counties, the state’s Department of Health confirmed.
“This serious situation continues to be made worse by RFK Jr. playing games with public health and safety,” Gov. Shapiro said in a social media post Tuesday. “It’s long past time for [Secretary Kennedy] to stop stoking vaccine skepticism and misinformation and compromising the serious mission of the nation’s public health agencies.”
The latest clash centers in part on how the deaths are being counted at the federal level. Shapiro accused Kennedy of intervening in the CDC’s reporting process after earlier Pennsylvania deaths were not initially reflected in the agency’s national tally.
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Kennedy has denied directing the CDC to withhold the deaths from its statistics, saying the agency is following its standard for determining when measles is listed as the underlying cause of death.
“Governor Shapiro has chosen to politicize this outbreak instead of implementing a unified public health response,” Kennedy responded on X. “He continues to point the finger at me and the federal government.”
Kennedy criticized Pennsylvania for not requesting a CDC Epi-Aid, which would send federal epidemiologists into the state to investigate the outbreak. He also said Pennsylvania had declined federal assistance.
Lancaster County, home to one of the largest Amish communities in the country, has been hardest hit by the outbreak. Nearly half of the state’s measles cases have been reported there, making it particularly risky since vaccination rates among the Amish are incredibly low.
Kennedy has accused Shapiro of shifting blame to the Amish community.
Shapiro and Kennedy’s feud began after the governor denounced the secretary’s vaccination messaging when he announced the first two measles-related deaths in the state in over 35 years.
In a call before Shapiro’s announcement, Kennedy offered federal assistance to control the outbreak, but they each had different accounts of the conversation. Kennedy said Shapiro acknowledged the vaccination rates had declined under the Biden administration, which the governor denied. And Shapiro said he told the secretary his negative rhetoric on vaccines was harming people in the state and implored him to encourage vaccinations.
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