New Measles Deaths Send US Fatality Total to Highest in Decades

Pennsylvania health officials confirmed two additional measles-associated deaths, bringing the total confirmed deaths in the state this year to four, and driving US fatalities to the highest level in decades.

Pennsylvania health officials confirmed two additional measles-associated deaths, bringing the total confirmed deaths in the state this year to four, and driving US fatalities to the highest level in decades.

Both individuals were unvaccinated, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said in a statement on Tuesday. One lived in Jefferson County, the other lived in Mifflin County. Additional identifying details won’t be released, the department said.

The deaths are a grim milestone in the return of a disease that the US once largely considered vanquished. Pennsylvania hadn’t recorded a measles-related death in 35 years before this summer; it has now reported four in a matter of weeks, as the state’s outbreak has swelled to nearly 700 cases.

More than 130 people have been hospitalized in Pennsylvania, nearly all of them unvaccinated. The mounting toll underscores how quickly measles can gain a foothold when vaccination rates slip, a reality currently playing out in almost every state. By July of this year, US measles cases surpassed the total number of infections reported in all of 2025.

In 2025, the US recorded three measles deaths; the nation’s previous fatality from the virus was in 2015. During the severe epidemic from 1989 to 1991, there were 166 suspected measles deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A CDC spokesperson said Pennsylvania health officials have notified the agency of two additional deaths involving individuals who had measles. CDC remains in contact with state health officials as they continue to assess these deaths, the spokesperson said, and if the state requests it, will send epidemiologists for on-the-ground support.

Pennsylvania’s health department emphasized that getting fully vaccinated with the two-dose measles, mumps and rubella shot is the best form of protection against the highly contagious virus. Nine out of 10 unvaccinated people who come into contact with the virus that causes measles will be infected. It can lead to dangerous complications like pneumonia, brain swelling and even death.

The outbreak has been growing amid an overhaul of the country’s vaccination policies under US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A longtime vaccine critic, Kennedy has promoted unproven remedies and at one point said the measles vaccine should be a “personal choice.” He’s also promoted false information about the shots, including that they contain fetal tissue.

After Pennsylvania notified the CDC about its first deaths in August, Kennedy publicly questioned them and suggested the office of the Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, fabricated the deaths for political gain. Shapiro blamed Kennedy for sowing distrust in vaccines.

Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order recommending that the MMR vaccine be split into three shots, which would be costly and complicated for manufacturers and require more clinic visits to administer.

Some health officials and nominees have sought to break ranks with the health secretary’s views on vaccines. On Tuesday, Trump’s nominee to be second-in-command of the Department of Health and Human Services offered a full-throated endorsement of the measles shot during a Senate confirmation hearing.

“Unquestionably, the MMR vaccine is the single most effective public health tool that we have against measles,” Chris Klomp, currently the chief counselor at HHS, told senators.

With assistance from Rachel Cohrs Zhang.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

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