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Measles death undercuts RFK Jr.’s doubts
Salon.com • • general
Key Points:
- Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed that measles caused the death of a 6-week-old infant in Pennsylvania, following the Lancaster County coroner's determination.
- Kennedy had previously asked the CDC to remove two Pennsylvania deaths from the national measles tally, questioning whether measles contributed to them, despite state officials reporting them as measles-associated deaths.
- The infant who died had Amish lethal microcephaly, a rare genetic disorder, making them especially vulnerable to severe illness from measles, according to the Lancaster County coroner.
- Pennsylvania is experiencing its largest measles outbreak in decades, with hundreds of cases, while the CDC reviews records and develops criteria for classifying measles deaths before updating the national tally.
- Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro accused Kennedy of interfering with public health reporting and urged accurate inclusion of the deaths in federal data amid the ongoing U.S. measles outbreak.
