Kennedy Asked the CDC Director to Leave Two Pennsylvania Measles Deaths Off the National Tally

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked newly appointed CDC Director Erica Schwartz to omit two measles-related deaths reported by Pennsylvania from the agency's national tally, Reuters reported on September 3. The CDC's September 4 update still omitted them, placing an asterisk where the first U.S. measles deaths of the year would be recorded and noting that available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths. Pennsylvania reported the deaths to the CDC on August 25 and says career CDC staff raised no concern at the time; the state declined to share identifiable records.

Editing a national disease surveillance tally at the political level bears directly on whether federal public health data can be relied on.

A Johns Hopkins expert and former Maryland health secretary said he had never heard of the CDC omitting state-reported surveillance data. The CDC says it will update the count after reviewing Pennsylvania's cases but has not said what it needs or when.