Two Unvaccinated Lancaster County Residents Die of Measles, Pennsylvania's First Deaths From the Disease in 35 Years

Pennsylvania's Department of Health confirmed Tuesday that two Lancaster County residents died from measles-associated complications. Both were unvaccinated. State officials did not release their ages or other identifying details, citing privacy for the families.

These are Pennsylvania's first measles deaths in 35 years, according to the department. They're also the first measles deaths recorded anywhere in the United States in 2026, according to the CDC's most recent data cited by The Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2025, three people died from measles nationwide, including two school-age children in Texas.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen held a news conference Tuesday outside Lancaster General Hospital. Shapiro said the state has confirmed 393 measles cases so far this year, the highest count since 1992, spread across 29 counties.

"This is a serious and a growing problem across the country and right here in our Commonwealth," Shapiro said, according to WGAL-TV. He said every case this year involved someone who wasn't fully vaccinated.

Lancaster County, home to one of the largest Amish and conservative Mennonite communities in the country, has been the epicenter of the outbreak, with 177 to 185 cases reported since April depending on the count cited (WHYY and CIDRAP put the county figure at slightly different points in the same week, reflecting the fast-moving case count). Shapiro said kindergarten vaccination rates in Lancaster County sit at 87%, well below the 95% threshold needed for herd immunity. He contrasted that with Montgomery County, where 95% of incoming kindergartners are fully vaccinated.

Bogen, a physician, said the MMR vaccine "is safe and provides the best protection we have against measles." Two doses are about 97% effective at preventing infection, according to the CDC. Without vaccination, exposure to the virus carries roughly a 90% infection risk, since measles particles can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves a room.

A national spike, not just a Pennsylvania problem

The CDC has recorded 2,777 confirmed measles cases in 2026 across 45 to 47 states plus D.C. (sources vary slightly on the state count), tied to 36 outbreaks. That's the highest annual U.S. total since 1991, when nearly 10,000 cases and 166 deaths occurred during a multi-year epidemic. Pennsylvania's 393 cases rank third nationally, behind South Carolina's 670 and Utah's 526, according to MedPage Today.

Nationally, 94% of confirmed 2026 cases involve people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. Kindergarten MMR vaccination rates have slipped from 95.2% in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.4% in 2025-2026, according to CDC data, while vaccine exemptions climbed from 3.6% to 4.2% over roughly the same period.

Maryland, which borders Pennsylvania, declared measles outbreaks in three counties this week after confirming 14 new cases among unvaccinated residents, bringing the state's 2026 total to 31 cases, according to The Independent. Maryland health officials said there's "no evidence of widespread community transmission," since most of those cases occurred among household contacts.

The vaccine debate collides with the deaths

The fatalities land in the middle of a genuinely contested political fight over vaccine messaging. President Trump signed an executive order this month promoting separate measles, mumps and rubella shots instead of the combined MMR vaccine, and said last week the combined shot could be "quite lethal." CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz disputed that characterization Sunday, saying the MMR vaccine is not lethal.

Shapiro, a Democrat, told reporters he spoke directly with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after the deaths. "I was very, very blunt with him, and 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, particularly right here in Pennsylvania," Shapiro said, according to the Inquirer.

Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, argued in comments to CIDRAP that Kennedy's decades of vaccine skepticism have contributed to falling vaccination rates and the resulting deaths. Kennedy has not been quoted responding to it directly in available reporting.

Proponents of splitting the MMR shot argue individualized vaccine scheduling gives parents more choice and could address specific safety concerns, even though public health authorities, including the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, maintain the combined vaccine's safety and efficacy record is well established after decades of use.

Shapiro said vaccination demand has picked up. Healthcare providers across Pennsylvania administered roughly 35,000 MMR doses in the past month, up from a typical 25,000, he said. Whether that surge continues, and whether it's enough to push county-level vaccination rates back above the 95% herd-immunity threshold, remains an open question as the outbreak continues.