Two Unvaccinated Pennsylvania Residents Die From Measles, Marking First U.S. Measles Fatalities This Year Amid 35-Year Outbreak High
Amid the worst U.S. measles surge in 35 years, Pennsylvania’s state health department confirmed Tuesday that two local residents have died after contracting the virus. These fatalities are the first measles-related deaths recorded across the country in 2026.
Both deceased individuals were unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County, a south-central Pennsylvania region that is home to a large Amish population. In an official statement, the health department noted it will not release additional personal details about the victims to protect their privacy.
So far this year, Pennsylvania has logged 393 confirmed measles cases, with roughly half of those diagnoses tied to Lancaster County. Only Utah and South Carolina have recorded more measles cases than Pennsylvania in 2026.
Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro described measles as a “serious and growing problem” across the entire United States. “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 viruses on the planet.”
In Pennsylvania, nearly 20 percent of all people infected with measles during the current outbreak have required hospitalization. The virus can trigger severe, life-altering complications: pneumonia, the leading cause of measles death in young children, and encephalitis (brain swelling), which can leave survivors with permanent disabilities including deafness and cognitive impairment.
Per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, the U.S. has recorded nearly 2,800 total measles cases this year. That is up from 2,289 cases in 2025, and drastically higher than the 285 cases reported nationwide in 2023. Falling vaccination rates across the country are the primary driver of the current outbreak wave.
New CDC data released earlier this month shows vaccination coverage for kindergarten students dropped during the last school year for every routine childhood vaccine tracked by the agency. At the same time, the share of parents requesting nonmedical vaccine exemptions for their children rose from 3.6 percent nationally to a new record high of 4.2 percent.
Measles is so highly contagious that 95 percent of a community needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity and stop outbreaks from spreading. In Lancaster County, only 87 percent of incoming kindergarten students are fully vaccinated against measles.
Shapiro pointed to widespread vaccine misinformation as a key driver of Pennsylvania’s rising case counts. The two-dose measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is 97 percent effective at preventing measles infection, and severe adverse reactions are extremely rare for fully vaccinated people. To date, the state health department has hosted 91 pop-up vaccination clinics and administered more than 4,100 vaccine doses across the state in response to the outbreak, with roughly one quarter of those doses given in Lancaster County.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic who has pushed to overhaul the national childhood vaccination schedule, recently told CNN that U.S. measles outbreak hotspots are “almost all religious communities that just don’t vaccinate.” Shapiro pushed back on that framing Tuesday, noting that measles cases have been confirmed in 28 counties across Pennsylvania, and it is unfair to label the crisis a problem limited to a single community.
The governor also revealed he arrived late to Tuesday’s press conference because Kennedy had called him to offer federal assistance for the outbreak response. “I was very, very blunt with him,” Shapiro said, confirming he turned down the offer. “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 the surging case count, President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order to “break up” the combined MMR vaccine into separate individual shots for each disease. The current standard is a two-dose combined MMR regimen; splitting the vaccine into separate shots would require a total of six doctor visits to complete the full vaccination series. More than 210 medical organizations and patient advocacy groups issued a joint statement warning the change will leave children less protected and create unnecessary confusion for families. The combined MMR vaccine has been licensed as a single injection since 1971, and there is no scientific evidence to support separating it into individual doses.
