Pennsylvania reports teen as fourth measles death amid feud with RFK Jr.

Pennsylvania officials on Tuesday reported two additional measles-related deaths, bringing the total for the year to four.

This is a record-setting year for measles in the U.S. The number of cases is at a 35-year high and there are more deaths than any year since 1992.

The newest death according to state health officials was an unvaccinated person who lived in Mifflin County, located in Central Pennsylvania. County coroner Andrea L. Alcalde in a news release said an 18-year-old died from acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a “rare and severe neurological complication of measles.”

The coroner did not release any other details, including when the person died.

The state health department also confirmed a 40-year-old woman in Jefferson County died from measles complications. County officials first reported the death over the weekend.

In late August, state officials announced the state’s first measles-associated deaths in 35 years in Lancaster County. The county coroner later disclosed that it was two infants who died.

One of the deaths he attributed directly to measles, while the other died shortly after birth from a ruptured spleen. The coroner said measles contributed to that death, but was not a direct cause.

The state said that it has now confirmed 693 cases of measles in 38 counties in this year’s outbreak. Nationally, more than 3,200 measles cases have been reported.

“My thoughts are with the two families who lost loved ones to this highly-contagious virus, as Pennsylvania faces the worst measles outbreak in more than three decades,” Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen said in a statement.

“We remain committed to working with our partners across Pennsylvania to stem this outbreak and prevent more deaths. That means ensuring people have the facts about measles and access to the MMR vaccine – which kept measles outbreaks at bay for decades,” Bogen said.

The best protection against measles remains getting fully vaccinated, according to the Pennsylvania Health Department as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The MMR vaccine, administered over two doses, boosts a person’s immune system and provides 97 percent lifetime protection.

Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, but cases are surging due to low vaccination rates, and the U.S. is at risk of losing that elimination status.

“These are tragedies, and four families are grieving,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) wrote Tuesday on X.

The announcement of the additional deaths comes amid an ongoing bitter political feud between Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The feud continued Tuesday, when Shapiro lashed out at Kennedy.

“This serious situation continues to be made worse by RFK Jr. playing games with public health and safety. It’s long past time for @SecKennedy to stop stoking vaccine skepticism and misinformation and compromising the serious mission of the nation’s public health agencies,” Shapiro wrote.

Kennedy in turn blamed Shapiro for politicizing the outbreak.

“He continues to point the finger at me and the federal government and to malign the Amish while refusing the federal assistance that might help end the outbreak,” Kennedy wrote on X.

“I have offered the Governor CDC Epi-Aid, which would put CDC epidemiologists on the ground to help the state respond. Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, Kansas, New Mexico, and Wisconsin requested Epi-Aids and worked alongside CDC teams to help bring their outbreaks rapidly and successfully under control,” Kennedy wrote.

But states don’t always request epi-aids. For instance, Utah had a recent measles outbreak but Kennedy did not mention whether officials there had asked for assistance.

Meanwhile, the CDC has been excluding the two Lancaster County deaths from its weekly updates of a national measles death tally, a radical departure from the typical agency practice of accepting a state’s own reporting.

The decision to exclude the deaths reportedly came from the CDC’s new director, Dr. Erica Schwartz, at the behest of Kennedy.

Shapiro on Tuesday called out Kennedy’s role in deciding against counting the deaths.

“It is also 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.

Kennedy denied CDC was trying to suppress the information, and said the agency was merely “applying a consistent national standard rather than allowing politicians to decide which deaths appear in federal mortality statistics.”