A fourth person in Pennsylvania has died of measles, the state health department confirmed Tuesday. The latest death was in an unvaccinated 18-year-old resident of Mifflin County.

In the announcement, the state health department also confirmed a county coroner's report over the weekend of the death of an unvaccinated 40-year-old woman in Jefferson County. The state had previously reported two deaths in Lancaster County; both were infants—a newborn boy and a 6-week-old girl, both too young to be vaccinated.

According to the Mifflin County coroner, Andrea L. Alcalde, the 18-year-old's cause of death was determined to be acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), which is a rare but known severe complication of measles. The condition is characterized by a rapidly progressing autoimmune disorder in which aberrant inflammation from an infection strips away the protective coverings of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Before measles vaccines were widely used, ADEM was commonly associated with measles, though other viral infections can also spur its development.

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US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will deliver a keynote address at an anti-vaccine conference being held in Washington, DC, later this week and hosted by the anti-vaccine organization he once led, Children's Health Defense (CHD). The organization announced Monday that Kennedy had signed on to the event.

Kennedy will appear alongside other high-profile figures in the anti-vaccine world, including Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced former doctor who was stripped of his medical license over a fraudulent, now-retracted study that falsely claimed a link between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. An investigation by a medical board found that Wakefield had mistreated vulnerable children and that his actions amounted to serious professional misconduct.

Despite being ostracized from the medical community, Wakefield has become an enduring figure in the anti-vaccine community. His dangerous falsehood that vaccines cause autism has also endured—with significant help from CHD and Kennedy, who have embraced and widely promoted the erroneous link.

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A 40-year-old woman in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, has died of complications from measles, according to the county's coroner.

It marks the third vaccine-preventable, measles-linked death in the US this year. All three have occurred in Pennsylvania, which is experiencing an explosive outbreak that has caused over 670 cases and 124 hospitalizations across 37 counties. Prior to these deaths, Pennsylvania had not reported a measles death in 35 years.

In a news release dated September 12, Jefferson County Coroner Greg Furlong said the death of the woman was "a heartbreaking loss for the family and an unfortunate reminder that measles can be a serious and potentially life-threatening disease."

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still secretly counting two measles deaths that were deleted from the agency's public measles data—a deletion that occurred at the direct request of anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to two reports released today.

Early today, Reuters reported that Kennedy instructed new CDC director Erica Schwartz to delete the two deaths from the agency's website. CDC staff had reportedly already reviewed information about the deaths and accepted the characterization that they were measles-related. Still, Schwartz deleted the deaths without objection, insiders told Reuters. According to previous reporting, the two deaths were added and then removed from the CDC's website within hours on August 30.

The deaths were of a newborn and a child, and they were reported last week by health officials in Pennsylvania. The state's ongoing measles outbreak has sickened 540 so far, including 119 just in the last week.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is excluding two measles deaths reported by Pennsylvania health officials last week from its latest update of national measles data. The move publicly challenges the accuracy of the state's death determinations in an extraordinary move that breaks precedent that states are the arbiters of case and death determinations, not the CDC.

The New York Times reported Monday that the CDC's new director, Erica Schwartz, is behind the decision. Schwartz—less than a month into the job—reportedly ordered CDC staff to add an unusual statement onto the CDC's website for measles surveillance data. The statement notes that the update will not include the deaths reported by Pennsylvania and continues: "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 Washington Post reported Monday that the CDC had actually changed the information provided on that page multiple times over the weekend. On August 29 at 2:33 pm ET, the website listed the total measles deaths for 2026 as "0" in a chart. On August 30 at 12:09 pm ET, the chart was updated to list the total deaths for 2026 as "2." There was also a note underneath the chart that read: "Health departments make determinations about measles-associated deaths and share relevant information with CDC." By 3:23 pm ET on August 30, the chart was changed again to delete the two deaths, replacing them with an asterisk as a reference to the unusual statement about the deaths not being included. The asterisk and statement remain as of Tuesday.

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Senators are renewing calls for anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy to step down or be ousted—and at least one is calling for a criminal investigation—amid the release of documents they say prove Kennedy lied to them during his confirmation hearings last year.

"This is a pattern, not a slip," Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement. "RFK Jr. has lied to the Senate, lied to the American people, and jeopardized the health of children to advance his anti-vaccine agenda."

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a social media post Friday that the documents were "Proof we got RFK lying on the record during his confirmation hearing (a crime)." He called for the matter to be referred to the US Department of Justice for a criminal investigation. In a separate statement to The Guardian, Wyden added that "RFK's platform is built on lies and grifts that leave a trail of dead children in their wake. There are consequences for lying to Congress."

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In the wake of news on Tuesday that two people in Pennsylvania died from measles, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been posting a slew of anti-vaccine rhetoric and misinformation on social media—marking a resurgence of his old ways as a fervent opponent of lifesaving immunizations.

The deaths are the first measles-linked fatalities in Pennsylvania in 35 years and are the first US  measles deaths reported in 2026. They occurred amid an explosive outbreak in the state that has reached nearly 400 confirmed cases, as well as an ongoing nationwide surge for the vaccine-preventable disease. The US has tallied nearly 2,800 cases so far this year, the highest total since 1991.

Pennsylvania health officials initially declined to provide details about the deaths, only reporting that they were in unvaccinated people from Lancaster County. However, news broke Wednesday that one of the deaths occurred in a newborn baby. That heart-wrenching news was swiftly entangled in the anti-vaccine misinformation Kennedy was spewing online.

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Two unvaccinated people have died from measles in Pennsylvania, state health officials confirmed Tuesday.

They are the first measles deaths reported in Pennsylvania in 35 years and the first deaths reported in the US in 2026. Last year, the US saw three measles deaths: two in otherwise-healthy but unvaccinated school-age children in Texas and one in an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. Prior to those deaths, the US had not seen a measles death since 2015, when a woman with underlying conditions became severely ill.

Citing privacy, health officials in Pennsylvania are not providing information on the people who died beyond that they were unvaccinated and were residents of Lancaster County. Officials noted that the deaths are among 393 confirmed cases reported this year across 28 counties in the state.

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Under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the US health department is considering changing how vaccine recommendations are categorized and described. The move creates the possibility that vaccinations currently considered "routine" or "universal" could be given new designations that sound less definitive or more conditional, such as "recommended with qualification" or recommended based on "shared clinical decision-making."

Kennedy has made no new rules or recommendations for the categories yet. However, he laid out ideas and possibilities in a Request for Information (RFI) posted online Friday and published in the Federal Register on Monday. In the 10-page document, Kennedy poses questions about the current categories and asks the public to weigh in on ideas for how to change or replace them. The deadline to comment on the questions and ideas is September 20.

Currently, there are three categories of vaccination recommendations granted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is informed by a panel of independent expert advisors, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). The three categories are: routine, otherwise considered universal (a recommendation that everyone should get a vaccine); risk-based recommendations (only certain groups at higher risk should get a vaccine); and recommendations based on "shared clinical decision-making," or SCDM (a flexible but uncommon recommendation for vaccination based on the characteristics, values, and preferences of a patient and the judgment of their healthcare provider).

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday released data on the vaccination rates of US kindergarteners in the 2025–2026 school year, revealing that rates have once again decreased from the previous school year.

Vaccination rates have been slipping since the 2019–2020 school year, when the US had obtained rates of around 95 percent, the threshold needed to keep outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases from spreading in communities. The latest data shows the US is moving further away from that target.

Nationally, only 92.4 percent of kindergartners were vaccinated with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine in the 2025–2026 school year, down from 92.5 percent last year. Coverage with the DTaP vaccine, which covers diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (whooping cough), similarly fell from 92.1 percent to 92.0 percent.

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Backlash to Trump's vaccine order on Monday has been swift and sharp, with various public health and medical organizations and independent experts calling it "dangerous," "unscientific," "false and misleading," "so wrong," and saying it is "putting children's health at risk."

The responses are unsurprising; the medical and health communities have consistently fought against the anti-vaccine, anti-science agendas pushed by Trump and his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has no background in science, medicine, or public health. The American Academy of Pediatrics—which called the order "not only disheartening but dangerous"—is leading a lawsuit against previous changes to federal childhood vaccine recommendations under Trump and Kennedy. In March, the organization, along with other medical groups, won a temporary injunction reversing most of the changes.

However, less expected among the scorn for Trump's order is the immediate pushback from the pharmaceutical industry.

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President Trump signed an executive order Monday that makes sweeping, unilateral changes to federal vaccine recommendations. The order aims to reduce the number of lifesaving vaccines all children are recommended to get—from 18 to 11—while also splitting them up and spacing them out over more time and more medical visits.

The vaccine changes are not backed by evidence or spurred by new findings. Rather, they are based on false anti-vaccine fearmongering about harms, including the debunked claim that they cause autism, and misinformation that multiple vaccinations can "overwhelm" children's immune systems. This false claim has also been repeatedly debunked and explained.

During a signing event at the White House on Monday afternoon, Trump falsely claimed that pediatricians "have a vaccination that looks like the size of a bottle of soda," that is "poured into a little child's body, and bad things happen in too many cases. This is an explosion; this is an epidemic," Trump said.

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The White House is drafting an executive order on the disproven link between vaccines and autism, according to independent reports from The Washington Post and Bloomberg, which both cited unnamed sources with knowledge of the efforts.

Bloomberg reported that the executive order, which is still taking shape and is subject to change, could be issued as soon as next week. The Post said the order's drafting so far is aimed at the childhood vaccine schedule, autism research, and parental choice for vaccinations.

Dozens of high-quality studies encompassing data from millions of children worldwide have already been carried out on the topic and have consistently found no link between childhood vaccines and autism. The claim of a link stems from an unethical, fraudulent study that was retracted years ago, and its author was stripped of his medical license.

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Despite significant drama from Trump officials this year, the Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a flu vaccine that uses mRNA technology.

On Thursday, vaccine maker Moderna announced that its flu shot, mRNA-1010, aka mFLUSIVA, had earned approval for use in all adults ages 50 and up. The approval announcement follows a unanimous vote by FDA advisors in June to approve the vaccine. That vote was based on its superior efficacy to existing seasonal flu shots and a good safety record demonstrated in trials that included nearly 44,000 people. After that vote, the FDA set a goal of August 5 for a decision on the vaccine's fate.

While the unanimous support from FDA advisors boded well for Moderna's shot, the overall path to approval was treacherous and uncertain, even until the end. For one thing, current Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a well-established anti-vaccine advocate who has worked diligently in his time in office to thwart vaccinations. One of his first acts as health secretary was canceling a federal campaign to encourage people to get flu shots in the midst of a bad flu season—despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had already paid for the campaign and the flu season was killing relatively high numbers of children.

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In a 51–44 vote Wednesday, the US Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, despite failing miserably to convince senators last month that she could stand up to anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The confirmation ends a nearly yearlong vacancy for the position since Kennedy fired the previous CDC director, Susan Monarez, last August. Monarez was ousted after she refused to rubber-stamp vaccine recommendations from a panel of Kennedy's hand-selected advisors, who hold similar anti-vaccine views to his own.

Schwartz is highly qualified for the role, coming to the CDC with a medical degree, a master’s degree in public health, and a law degree. She previously had a long stint as a Navy officer and held leadership roles including chief medical officer for the US Coast Guard and deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration. Notably, she has been a public advocate for vaccines and outbreak preparedness.

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Ardent anti-vaccine activist and current US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly on thin ice with Trump for not being anti-vaccine enough for the president's liking, according to a report late Monday from The Wall Street Journal.

Trump has become fixated on the completely false, thoroughly debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, the Journal reported. People familiar with the president's scattered thinking say Trump wants an autism remedy to be part of his legacy and thinks scaling back childhood vaccinations is a way to secure that achievement. As such, he has grown frustrated and disappointed that Kennedy hasn't done more to cut back federal childhood vaccine recommendations or confirm a link to the neurodevelopmental disorder.

In May, the president reportedly aired his disappointment, calling out Kennedy for having "the yips" that were preventing him from acting on his zealous anti-vaccine agenda while holding the highest health position in the country. In June, Trump reportedly vented in the Oval Office to Kennedy that he wasn't doing enough.

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As long as there have been vaccines, there have been people who doubted their science and safety.

Back in 19th-century England, people rioted against a mandatory smallpox vaccine, claiming that it violated civil rights and was an affront to human bodily integrity. In the United States, organizations dedicated to resisting vaccines have existed since the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League of Brooklyn was established in 1894.

Researchers generally refer to people who do not follow the standard advice of health professionals about vaccines, by either refusing or delaying some or all vaccines, as vaccine hesitant. Today, vaccine hesitancy is most famously associated with the Make America Healthy Again movement and its standard-bearer, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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Two nominees for high-profile health roles in the Trump administration faced scrutiny from the Senate health committee Wednesday—and both crashed and burned in their own special ways.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) scrutinized Erica Schwartz, the nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Sean Kaufman, up for the role of assistant secretary for preparedness and response.

Schwartz's assignment

Public health experts were "cautiously optimistic" about Schwartz's nomination. She is well-respected and holds views in line with evidence-based medicine, including being supportive of vaccinations—in contrast to anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom she will serve under. She is also highly qualified for the role, with a medical degree, a master's degree in public health, and a law degree. She's had a long career as a Navy Officer and previously held the roles of chief medical officer for the US Coast Guard and deputy surgeon general in the first Trump administration.

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