Two measles deaths were recorded this week in Pennsylvania, the first in the United States this year, as the country faces its worst outbreaks in three decades amid a Trump administration policy that is lowering vaccination coverage.
Both were unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Officials did not release further details, citing privacy concerns.
The deaths come roughly two weeks after President Trump signed an executive order questioning the safety of the combined MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella.
Dismissing assurances from scientists and decades of data on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, Trump claimed that combining three vaccines in a single shot is likely dangerous enough to cause death.
The same order dropped six of the 17 vaccines recommended for infants and children, a sweeping move that advances the anti-vaccine agenda of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who continues to link vaccines to autism.
The removal of the recommendation for the six vaccines, covering hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, meningococcus, flu, and COVID-19, had previously been announced by Kennedy but was struck down in court. Reporting from Reuters noted that the executive order reinstates the changes Kennedy pushed for, despite the ongoing legal dispute.
While insurers will still cover the cost for parents who want their children vaccinated against the six diseases, Trump’s order directs the Justice Department to challenge state laws that diverge from the official federal guidance.
Kennedy, who spent years as an anti-vaccine activist before joining the Trump administration, now oversees a series of studies at the Department of Health and Human Services examining vaccine safety, including any possible link to autism.
According to experts, statements and policies from Trump and Kennedy have fueled confusion and distrust around vaccines, contributing to the resurgence of a preventable disease that the US had eliminated more than 20 years ago.
Two unvaccinated children died of measles last year in Texas, the first US measles deaths in more than a decade.
Since the start of the year, 2,777 confirmed cases have been recorded nationwide.
In the decade before the vaccine became available in 1963, the US recorded 3 to 4 million measles cases a year, mostly in children, along with 48,000 hospitalizations and 400 to 500 deaths annually.
Measles can cause complications including ear infections, hearing loss, pneumonia, diarrhea, blindness, and encephalitis. Even in otherwise healthy children, measles can lead to serious illness or death, while in unvaccinated pregnant women it can cause premature birth or low birth weight.
