Pennsylvania asks for CDC help on measles outbreak, demands agency recognise measles deaths

Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak has become the focus of a stand-off between US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Governor Josh Shapiro.

WASHINGTON – The Pennsylvania health department said it was requesting emergency support from the US CDC as it grapples with one of the country’s largest and most deadly measles outbreaks, according to a document reviewed by Reuters on Sept 17.

The request comes on condition that the federal agency recognise four measles-associated deaths reported by the state, raising the stakes in a dispute with the Trump administration.

The state’s measles outbreak has become the focus of a stand-off between US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. Kennedy has cast doubt on whether deaths reported in US measles outbreaks since he took office were due to the virus or another cause, and instructed the CDC not to include the Pennsylvania fatalities in a national tally.

Disease experts say the move represented highly unusual interference by a health secretary in the determination by state health officials and could minimise the risks of measles in the eyes of the public. Kennedy has accused Shapiro of politicising the outbreak in his state and of failing to request federal help.

CDC officials were not immediately available for comment.

In a letter sent to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, director Erica Schwartz on the evening of Sept 16, reviewed by Reuters, Pennsylvania secretary of health Debra Bogen said the state had begun the process to request emergency assistance from the CDC, known as Epi-Aid.

“The CDC’s choice not to publicly recognise the deaths undermines our response,” Bogen wrote. “For this reason, if CDC is unable to transparently and accurately communicate information about those measles-associated deaths, the Department will respectfully rescind our request for a CDC Epi-Aid.”

The request from the state health department comes after it had resisted CDC help, arguing it had the outbreak under control.

Pennsylvania’s outbreak has since ballooned, growing to more than 700 confirmed cases across 37 counties and four measles-associated deaths, according to the state health department.

It is the latest state to grapple with the worst US resurgence of measles in more than three decades, fuelled by rising vaccine hesitancy, and coincides with US President Donald Trump’s return to office in early 2025. REUTERS