Two unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania have died after contracting measles, the state's health department confirmed on Tuesday. They represent the nation's first measles-related fatalities in 2026, occurring amid a 35-year peak in US measles infections. Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro characterized measles as a "serious and growing problem" across the country, emphasizing that illness and death from the virus are entirely preventable.
The deaths occurred in south-central Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, home to a substantial Amish population, though state health officials declined to release further details about the individuals to safeguard their privacy. Pennsylvania has logged 393 measles infections so far in 2026, with approximately half concentrated in Lancaster County. Only Utah and South Carolina have reported higher case counts this year. Nationwide, nearly 2,800 measles cases have been recorded in 2026, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—up from 2,289 infections in 2025 and significantly above the 285 cases documented in 2023. In Pennsylvania specifically, close to 20 percent of measles patients have required hospitalization. Lancaster County's incoming kindergarteners show just 87 percent full vaccination coverage, well below the 95 percent community threshold needed to prevent outbreaks of the highly contagious virus.
Falling vaccination rates nationwide are driving the current surge in cases. New CDC data from earlier this month revealed that vaccination coverage among kindergartners dropped during the past school year for all reported vaccines, while parents requesting nonmedical exemptions for their children climbed from 3.6 percent to a record 4.2 percent nationally. Shapiro pointed to misinformation surrounding vaccination as a primary factor behind Pennsylvania's case numbers. The measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine is 97 percent effective against measles when both doses are administered, and serious adverse effects are exceptionally uncommon in fully vaccinated individuals. State health department staff have conducted 91 pop-up vaccination clinics and delivered more than 4,100 vaccines statewide this year in response to the outbreak, with roughly a quarter administered in Lancaster County. The virus can trigger severe complications including pneumonia—the top cause of death in children with measles—as well as brain swelling, or encephalitis, which may result in deafness or intellectual disability.
Governor Shapiro revealed he was late to Tuesday's press conference because US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had phoned him to offer assistance responding to the outbreak. "I was very, very blunt with him," Shapiro said, noting he declined the offer and made clear that Kennedy's actions and the administration's rhetoric are negatively impacting communities nationwide. Kennedy, who has promoted vaccine skepticism and attempted to overhaul the childhood vaccination schedule, stated on CNN recently that areas experiencing measles outbreaks are "almost all religious communities that just don't vaccinate." Shapiro countered that measles has spread to 28 counties across Pennsylvania and said it wouldn't be fair to conclude this is a problem in one specific community. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order to "break up" the combined MMR vaccine, which could require six total doctor visits to complete the full vaccine series rather than the current two-dose regimen. More than 210 medical organizations and patient groups issued a statement warning the move would leave children less protected and families more confused, noting the MMR vaccine has been licensed since 1971 as a single injection with no scientific justification for separating it into individual vaccines. The intersection of political rhetoric and public health policy may prove consequential as states navigate competing pressures between parental choice advocacy and community disease prevention.