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L: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein; R: AP Photo/Marc Levy
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) sharply criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tuesday after two more measles deaths were confirmed in his state.
Last month, the news broke that two people in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania had died from the measles. Both were unvaccinated, according to the state’s Department of Health. Before that, no one in the Keystone State had died from the measles in 35 years.
President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Kennedy to head the country’s health services alarmed many doctors and scientists, due to his lack of education in medical or scientific topics and history of spreading false conspiracy theories about vaccines.
Since winning Senate confirmation and taking over at HHS, Kennedy has continued to express doubts in vaccines long shown to be safe and effective, vaccination rates have dropped, and the U.S. is experiencing the worst measles outbreak since the early 1990s.
When the previous two measles deaths were announced, Shapiro posted a statement on social media attacking claims Kennedy had made about vaccines during a press conference about the measles outbreak. The governor bashed Kennedy for making claims that were “inaccurate and misleading” and “have been debunked repeatedly by actual scientists and doctors,” specifically calling out Kennedy’s claim that the MMR vaccines contain aborted fetal tissue,” which the governor wrote has been “thoroughly discredited time after time by real doctors and trusted medical institutions.”
Tuesday, Shapiro again voiced stark criticism of Kennedy’s stewardship of the nation’s health agencies as he announced the Pennsylvania Department of Health had confirmed a total of four “measles-associated deaths” so far in his state.
“These are tragedies, and four families are grieving,” wrote Shapiro, adding that Pennsylvania was “experiencing the worst measles outbreak in the country.”
According to the governor, Pennsylvania currently has “693 recorded cases of measles in 38 of our 67 counties.”
He then launched into his grievances with Kennedy in contributing to the reemergence of a disease that “was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000” but was returning now “due to lower vaccination rates”:
This serious situation continues to be made worse by RFK Jr. playing games with public health and safety. It’s long past time for [Kennedy] to stop stoking vaccine skepticism and misinformation and compromising the serious mission of the nation’s public health agencies. It is also deeply concerning to learn that the Secretary personally intervened in an otherwise administrative process to direct the CDC to not report these Pennsylvania deaths, presumably because it doesn’t fit his phony narrative.
Measles is preventable. I continue to urge all Pennsylvanians to speak with your trusted health care provider and get the best possible information to protect yourself and your family against this deadly disease.
Kennedy offered his own reply from his X account, again complaining that the governor had “chose to politicize this outbreak instead of implementing a unified public health response.”
Kennedy further claimed that the “CDC’s MMR recommendation remains unchanged” and that he had “repeatedly stated that MMR vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles infection.”
This is not completely accurate. In an op-ed Kennedy wrote at the beginning of the measles outbreak and in other public comments he has made, he frequently omits to mention when those who have died were unvaccinated and repeatedly frames vaccination as one of several options for parents, or something to be deployed as needed.
Furthermore, besides the fact that Kennedy has never fully retracted his decades of anti-vaccine activism, he continues to describe measles itself in ways that downplay the seriousness of the disease, like mentioning how “virtually every child” used to get measles and emphasizes the “just a cold” and “just a fever” symptoms commonly cited by anti-vaxxers to minimize the perception of risk.
The reasons previous generations took measles so seriously were beyond the tell-tale rash or mere cold symptoms. The virus is highly contagious and complications — more severe for children and those who are immunocompromised — include pneumonia, blindness, deafness, immune amnesia, or encephalitis that causes a child’s brain to swell until they suffer permanent intellectual disabilities or death. There is also a secondary risk of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) that can occur up to a decade after the measles infection and is tragically always fatal.
As for Kennedy’s accusations Shapiro is engaging in “political grandstanding,” that is a debate likely to fall along the partisan leanings of the reader, but as a practical matter, the governor has little need of such tactics.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a project of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, declared Shapiro was “on a glide path to re-election,” rating his race as “Safe D.”
The Real Clear Politics polling average currently has Shapiro up 21.2 points over his Republican opponent, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity. Shapiro has been ahead by double digits for months in the various polls RCP tracks and was as high as 31 points up in one poll in late August.
The post Gov. Shapiro Blasts RFK Jr. for ‘Playing Games With Public Health’ After New Measles Deaths Confirmed first appeared on Mediaite.
Gov. Shapiro Blasts RFK Jr. for ‘Playing Games With Public Health’ After New Measles Deaths Confirmed 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-16 00:41:55 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
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