In
the
wake
of
two
measles-associated
deaths
in
Pennsylvania,
including
an
infant,
Health
Secretary
Robert
F.
Kennedy
Jr.
took
to
social
media
to
suggest
the
deaths
may
have
been
fabricated
and
to
spread
debunked
claims
about
the
measles,
mumps,
and
rubella
(MMR)
vaccine.
Kennedy,
an
anti-vaccine
activist
before
becoming
the
nation’s
top
health
official,
posted
Wednesday
on
X
that
the
deaths
appeared
to
have
been
announced
prematurely
and
“may
even
have
been
altogether
fabricated.”
Lancaster
County’s
coroner
said
he
did
not
consider
measles
to
be
the
cause
of
the
infant’s
death,
saying
in
an
interview
that
the
newborn
died
from
a
ruptured
spleen
and
internal
hemorrhage.
But
measles
was
detected
in
lung
tissue
and
apparently
listed
as
a
contributing
condition
on
the
baby’s
death
certificate.
The
CDC
on
Thursday
said
it
was
working
to
determine
what
had
occurred.
“We
appreciate
Secretary
Kennedy’s
efforts
to
clarify
conflicting
information
from
Pennsylvania
officials
about
whether
the
two
reported
deaths
were
caused
by
measles,”
the
agency
said
in
a
social
media
post.
“These
discrepancies
raise
important
questions,
particularly
because
the
governor’s
office
has
not
provided
CDC
with
information
relevant
to
the
outbreak
and
has
declined
our
offers
of
assistance.”
Pennsylvania’s
secretary
of
health,
Debra
Bogen,
MD,
said
she
“thoroughly
reviewed
the
case
investigation
information
and
sadly
can
confirm
that
there
were
two
recent
measles-associated
deaths
in
Lancaster
County,”
adding
that
the
department
of
health’s
(DOH)
epidemiology
team
verified
that
both
individuals
had
tested
positive
for
measles.
Kennedy
and
Pennsylvania’s
governor,
Josh
Shapiro
(D),
have
been
engaged
in
a
back-and-forth
since
the
Pennsylvania
DOH
announced
the
two
deaths
on
Tuesday.
Both
individuals
were
unvaccinated
and
from
Lancaster
County.
At
a
Tuesday
press
conference,
Shapiro
said
he
had
gotten
a
call
from
Kennedy
that
morning
offering
federal
resources
to
help
with
the
outbreak,
but
declined
the
offer.
Describing
the
call
later
on,
Shapiro
said
he
asked
Kennedy
to
join
him
“in
encouraging
people
to
get
vaccinated
and
stop
spreading
misinformation,”
but
said
Kennedy
then
“launched
into
a
tirade
—
talking
about
fetal
tissue
and
blaming
the
previous
administration
for
this
problem.”
Vaccine
experts
and
the
American
Academy
of
Pediatrics
(AAP)
say
there
is
no
fetal
tissue
in
the
MMR
vaccine.
“Vaccines
do
not
contain
fetal
cells,”
according
to
an
AAP
page
dedicated
to
the
topic.
“Some
vaccines
involve
growing
viruses
in
human
cell
cultures
originally
developed
from
two
aborted
fetuses
in
the
1960s.
These
cell
lines
are
still
going,
so
no
new
aborted
fetuses
are
ever
needed.
Purification
processes
filter
the
vaccine
during
production,
and
no
fetal
tissue
remains.”
According
to
Shapiro,
Kennedy
also
said
it
would
be
better
if
we
went
back
to
“natural
measles.”
“Unfortunately
at
a
time
where
I
needed
the
top
‘health
expert’
in
the
nation
to
responsibly
work
with
us
to
deal
with
this
outbreak,
he
instead
chose
to
go
down
a
rabbit
hole
of
conspiracy
theories
and
false
claims,”
Shapiro
wrote.
Their
discussion
also
turned
to
the
declining
vaccination
rates
in
the
U.S.,
according
to
Kennedy.
Recent
CDC
data
show
the
national
MMR
vaccination
rate
among
U.S.
kindergarteners
falling
from
95.2%
in
the
2019-2020
school
year
to
92.4%
in
2025-2026.
And
the
proportion
of
children
with
vaccine
exemptions
rose
to
4.2%
this
past
year,
up
from
3.6%
in
2024-2025.
“It’s
unfortunately
true
that
the
government
lockdowns,
deceptions,
manipulation,
and
overreach
during
COVID
severely
damaged
public
faith
in
the
vaccine
program,”
said
Kennedy.
But
Jerome
Adams,
MD,
the
surgeon
general
during
the
first
Trump
administration,
jumped
into
the
fray
to
debunk
that
idea.
“If
leaders
don’t
understand
root
causes,
they
can’t
address
them.
Here’s
why
the
‘lockdown’
explanation
is
simply
and
completely
untrue,”
said
Adams.
“Any
child
aged
0-4
who
missed
shots
in
20/21
is
now
school-age,
and
every
state
still
enforces
school-entry
mandates,”
he
wrote.
“The
current
drops
aren’t
pandemic
leftovers
—
they’re
intentional
opt-outs
through
state
exemptions.”
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