Pennsylvania's measles crisis just notched a grim milestone: a fourth death in what officials say is the state's worst outbreak in more than 30 years. The latest victim was an unvaccinated 18-year-old in Mifflin County, following earlier deaths involving two infants and a 40-year-old woman, CNN reports. Mifflin County Coroner Andrea L. Alcalde said Tuesday that the teen died from a "rare and severe neurological complication of measles," reports the Washington Post.
The state has logged 693 cases across 38 counties this year; nationally, more than 3,200 infections have been reported. The last time the US saw four measles deaths in a year was 1992. There were three last year. The spike is colliding with a political fight over how to count deaths and talk about vaccines. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro accuses Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of "stoking vaccine skepticism and misinformation," while Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, alleges fearmongering and has even suggested the deaths were "altogether fabricated" by Shapiro's staffers.
In a post on X Tuesday, Shapiro said the deaths were the state's first from measles in 35 years. "These are tragedies, and four families are grieving," he wrote, accusing Kennedy of worsening the situation by "playing games with public health and safety." He also blasted Kennedy for pressuring the CDC to keep the deaths out of its official count. It is "deeply concerning to learn that the Secretary personally intervened in an otherwise administrative process to direct the CDC to not report these Pennsylvania deaths, presumably because it doesn't fit his phony narrative," Shapiro wrote.
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