Amid a 35-year high in US measles cases, two people in Pennsylvania have died after contracting the virus, the state’s health department confirmed on Tuesday. They are the first measles-related deaths in the country this year.
Both individuals were unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County in south-central Pennsylvania, which has a large Amish population. The health department said in a statement that it would not be releasing additional information about the individuals to protect their privacy. Pennsylvania has recorded 393 measles cases in 2026 so far, with roughly half of those in Lancaster County. Only Utah and South Carolina have logged more cases this year.
Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro called measles a “serious and growing problem” across the country in a press conference on Tuesday. “Illness and death from measles is completely preventable,” he said. “We already have the tools to protect ourselves and our families from this disease, which is one of the most contagious diseases on the face of the Earth.”
In Pennsylvania, nearly 20 percent of those infected with measles have been hospitalized. The virus can cause severe complications such as pneumonia, which is the leading cause of death in children who get measles. The infection can also cause brain swelling, or encephalitis, which can sometimes lead to deafness or intellectual disability.
Nationwide, there have been nearly 2,800 measles cases this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 2,289 cases in 2025 and well above the 285 cases seen in 2023.
Declining vaccination rates across the country are fueling the current outbreaks. New data released by the CDC earlier this month found that vaccination coverage among kindergartners during the past school year decreased for all reported vaccines. Meanwhile, the number of parents seeking non-medical exemptions for vaccines for their children grew from 3.6 percent to a record high of 4.2 percent nationwide. Measles is so contagious that 95 percent of a community needs to be vaccinated to prevent outbreaks. In Lancaster County, just 87 percent of all incoming kindergarteners are fully vaccinated.
Shapiro cited misinformation around vaccination as a main driver of cases in Pennsylvania. The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is 97 percent effective against measles if both doses are given, and serious side effects are extremely rare in fully vaccinated people.
Shapiro said staff at the state health department have held 91 pop-up vaccination clinics and administered more than 4,100 vaccines across the state this year in response to the outbreak. About a quarter of those have been given in Lancaster County.
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has promoted vaccine skepticism and sought to overhaul the childhood vaccination schedule, said on CNN recently that the places facing measles outbreaks are “almost all religious communities that just don’t vaccinate.”
Shapiro noted on Tuesday that measles has been traced to 28 different counties throughout Pennsylvania and said it would not be fair to conclude that this is a problem in one particular community.
The governor said he was late to the press conference because Kennedy called him to offer help in responding to the outbreak. “I was very, very blunt with him,” Shapiro said, noting he turned Kennedy down. “I made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that’s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America.”
Amid surging measles cases, President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order to “break up” the combined MMR vaccine. Currently, the vaccine involves a two-dose regimen, and splitting up the vaccine could require a total of six visits to the doctor to complete the full vaccine series. More than 210 medical organizations and patient groups issued a statement saying the move would leave children less protected and families more confused. The MMR vaccine has been licensed since 1971 as a single injection, and there is no scientific basis for separating it into separate vaccines.