Clash with Pennsylvania comes as US records highest number of measles cases in decades.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has removed two measles-associated deaths reported by the US state of Pennsylvania from the federal government’s national tally, in a move directed by the agency’s director, according to US media.
The move comes as the US records its highest number of measles cases in 35 years, and as concerns have grown of the administration of US President Donald Trump’s response to the outbreak.
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Erica Schwartz, who was sworn in as CDC director in August, ordered the deaths to be excluded from the agency’s weekly measles update, according to current and former officials quoted by several US media organisations, including the New York Times.
The CDC had initially added the two cases to the website tracking national measles deaths, but later removed them, posting a notice saying it was reviewing additional information about the cases.
“At this time, available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles,” the CDC website read on Tuesday.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced on August 25 that two unvaccinated Lancaster County residents had died in cases it classified as “measles-associated”. They were the state’s first such deaths in 35 years.
“My deepest sympathies are with the loved ones who are facing this unimaginable loss,” Pennsylvania Health Secretary Debra Bogen said in a statement following the announcement.
“As a physician, I want to make sure that people understand that the MMR vaccine is safe and provides the best protection we have against measles.”
Questions over health policy
The CDC’s change comes after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a prominent vaccine sceptic ahead of his appointment to the role, publicly questioned Pennsylvania’s cases last week.
In a post on X, Kennedy said the announcement “may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor’s hopeful staffers”.
During a Fox News town hall on Saturday, Kennedy said he wanted Health and Human Services, a federal agency, to redirect resources to chronic disease and deaths linked to foodborne illness and away from infectious disease.
“Demagogue politicians are constantly trying to scare us about infectious disease, and we take the attention away from the chronic disease that is being caused … by big food companies, by big pharmaceutical companies,” Kennedy said on Fox News.
The CDC’s decision has raised concerns over whether the Trump administration will accelerate second-guessing state public health determinations.
Pennsylvania has disputed the federal account of what information was provided to the CDC, saying the deaths were reported to the agency’s measles response team and that state epidemiologists thoroughly investigated both cases.
Health experts have questioned several of the Trump administration’s health policies since the president took office for his second term in January 2025.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aiming to roll back recommended childhood immunizations and split the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate doses, falsely suggesting that the combined vaccine can be lethal.
Several top medical organisations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), have said spacing out the doses can create unneeded barriers to vaccines. That can in turn increase the number of unvaccinated children.
