Infant

Pennsylvania officials, led by Gov. Josh Shapiro, announced this week that two unvaccinated people in Lancaster County had died from measles, calling them the state's first measles deaths in more than 35 years. Officials withheld details about the victims, citing family privacy, while Shapiro publicly criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accusing him of spreading vaccine misinformation that he said carries "real-life consequences."

Subsequent reporting complicated the initial claims. One victim was reportedly a newborn who could not have been vaccinated, and Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said the infant's cause of death was a ruptured spleen, not measles, though measles antibodies were detected postmortem. Diamantoni said no enlarged spleen — a rare but documented complication of measles — was found, and further analysis is pending. The discrepancy has fueled criticism of how officials characterized the deaths and drawn political scrutiny over the handling of public health messaging amid ongoing measles outbreaks.