RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Measles-linked deaths recorded since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took office have surpassed those recorded in the previous 20 years combined.
Since 2025, there have been five confirmed deaths related to measles—three CDC-confirmed measles deaths in 2025 and two deaths in 2026.
Health officials in Pennsylvania have confirmed the deaths of an adult and an infant, both of whom were unvaccinated against the disease, marking the first U.S. deaths related to measles in 2026 and the first in the Keystone State in 35 years. The deaths are reported as measles-associated and have not yet been confirmed by the CDC.
From 2000 to 2020, there were three measles deaths in the U.S.—two in 2003 and one in 2015.
In response to a request from Newsweek , the Department of Health and Human Services shared a statement that was also shared on X by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The White House directed Newsweek to the same statement when contacted.
The HHS and CDC both offered their condolences to communities impacted by the deaths in Pennsylvania.
“CDC is working closely with state and local health departments to strengthen response efforts, rapidly support affected communities across the state, and communicate the steps people can take to slow the spread of measles,” the statement read.
The HHS noted the importance of vaccines in the statement shared with Newsweek and said, “The MMR vaccine provides the most effective protection against measles and helps prevent its spread.”
Noel Brewer, a Gillings Distinguished Professor in Public Health at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, expressed concern over the rise in measles cases and deaths telling Newsweek, “We need a national education campaign on measles vaccination.”
“Over the next 12 months, we should be paying attention to whether measles cases are increasing or dropping,” Brewer said. “Right now, measles is a runaway train with no end in sight,” he added.
The recording of deaths related to measles has sparked concern over a disease that was previously declared eliminated in the U.S. and has since resurged. It follows a period that saw Measles-related deaths become notably rare.
Jennifer Nuzzo, the director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health, told Newsweek over email, “The recently reported measles deaths are sadly unsurprising given the uncontrolled spread of measles in the U.S. for the last year and a half.”
The CDC has recorded 2,777 cases nationwide this year, the highest annual total reported in more than 35 years.
The rise in cases and fatalities has been widely attributed to a decline in vaccinations.
Nuzzo told Newsweek, “Despite having eliminated measles from the U.S. more than 25 years ago, we are in this deadly and costly mess because we've allowed measles vaccination coverage to slip.”
The U.S. declared measles eliminated in 2000, largely due to the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Elimination does not mean a disease has entirely disappeared, but that it is not continuously circulating.
A county-level data set from Johns Hopkins University , published in June of 2025, found that there had been a national decline in the MMR vaccine among U.S. children since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study found that of 2,066 counties studied, 78 percent reported a drop in vaccinations.
“Declining vaccination rates are the key factor driving ongoing transmission of measles in the U.S.,” Nuzzo told Newsweek .
As for why vaccinations themselves are slipping, Lawrence Gostin, a Distinguished University Professor at Georgetown, told Newsweek it is due to a “growing parental distrust in vaccines,” which is “fueling the current crisis.”
“Vaccine hesitancy plays the major role in reduced vaccination rates. Immunization rates have been falling ever since the COVID pandemic,” Gostin added.
Kennedy has consistently faced criticism for his rhetoric on vaccinations and has been considered one of the nation’s most visible vaccine skeptics.
He has spent years questioning the safety and testing of certain vaccines and has challenged the scientific consensus on a number of issues, including vaccine safety and childhood immunization schedules.
Amid the spike in measles cases, some lawmakers have directly criticized Kennedy, citing his past rhetoric while calling for his resignation.
Following the deaths in Pennsylvania, the state’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro said at a press conference, “[Kennedy’s] actions and rhetoric that’s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America.”
Maryland Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks wrote on X that "RFK Jr.'s lies and conspiracy theories are making Marylanders sick" and called for his resignation. In July, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia said vaccination was the most effective way to limit measles transmission and accused Kennedy of undermining those efforts.
Kennedy has pushed back against the criticism and defended the CDC's response.
Since becoming HHS secretary, he has said that he promotes the MMR vaccine and said while speaking on CNN in early August, “Parents should get their children vaccinated for measles.”
Kennedy rebuked Shapiro’s criticism and said the press conference was “an example of the same species of gaslighting,” and said that the “Trump administration is working to restore public trust not by gaslighting or manipulating, but by being truthful, at last, with the public,” in a post on X.
The measles outbreak notably began in January 2025, before Kennedy was confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary. The decline in post-COVID vaccinations also began before he assumed the role.
The rise in measles cases follows years of declining vaccination...
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