Trump’s new CDC director ordered delay in counting 2 measles-related deaths

CDC Withholds Two Pennsylvania Measles Deaths From National Tally, Citing Insufficient Evidence

Goldlaner.com – The federal agency tasked with tracking infectious disease across America has taken an extraordinary step: it is refusing to count two measles-linked fatalities that Pennsylvania reported in late August. Rather than adding the deaths to its running tally for 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has flagged them with an asterisk and a footnote, explaining that available data do not yet establish whether measles was the cause of death or merely present alongside another fatal condition. Two individuals familiar with the internal decision confirmed that the call originated with Dr. Erica Schwartz, who took over as CDC director in mid-August.

The exclusion lands at the center of a widening public-health dispute between the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services and the government of Pennsylvania, a state currently battling a spreading measles outbreak. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro have clashed over how the Keystone State should manage its outbreak, and the death-counting question has turned that friction into a visible institutional standoff.

Pennsylvania’s Position

State health officials maintain that both fatalities underwent full epidemiological review before being announced to the public. Neil Ruhland, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, stated that every reported measles case is examined against the CDC’s own case definition and that all required epidemiological data had already been transmitted to the federal agency.

“Every reported measles case is thoroughly reviewed to confirm it meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) case definition for a measles case. To date, DOH has provided all required epidemiological data to the CDC regarding the two measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania.”

The CDC’s Explanation

The agency delayed its routine Friday measles data update, then posted the revised figures over the weekend. In place of a numeric death count for 2026, readers encountered an asterisk followed by a lengthy footnote:

“This week’s measles outbreaks update will not include the two measles-associated deaths reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on August 25 while CDC reviews additional information regarding the circumstances and causes of death. At this time, available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles. CDC will update the national count as additional information becomes available.”

When asked for comment, the CDC press office routed the inquiry to Kennedy’s office at HHS. Grace Davis Jamison, a press secretary for the department, issued a statement defending the exclusion:

“CDC has a responsibility to ensure its reporting accurately and transparently reflects what is known and what remains unconfirmed. The two measles-associated deaths announced by Pennsylvania have not been confirmed based on the information currently available to CDC.”

Jamison added that the posted figures represent “the best available information and our commitment to transparency and telling the American people the truth – a foundational principle of the Trump Administration.”

Experts Call the Move Unprecedented

Public-health specialists who know the agency’s internal operations described the decision as a sharp break from decades of established practice. Dr. Nirav Shah, who served as CDC’s principal deputy director before departing his post in February 2025, called the second-guessing of a state epidemiologist’s determination “pretty remarkable.”

“For the CDC, let alone the CDC director, to overrule that sort of determination and just put that vague language up on the website, it’s more than atypical. It is the definition of the politicization of public health.”

Shah explained that the national death count for any infection has long functioned as an umbrella figure: it includes individuals who tested positive for a pathogen and then died in close temporal proximity to that positive result, typically within ten days. Under that convention, the count does not hinge on a formal causal determination of whether the infection killed the person or merely coexisted with another terminal illness.

Dr. Deb Houry, who held the role of CDC chief medical officer before resigning in protest over Kennedy’s August 2025 decision to dismiss Schwartz’s predecessor, Dr. Susan Monarez, described the Pennsylvania episode as “a big deviation in protocol.” She noted that last year a measles-associated death reported by New Mexico involved an individual who tested positive only after death. That death was nonetheless added to the national total while the investigation remained open.

“States notify the CDC, who then pulls the national picture together. States are the ones who do the investigation and this has been a standard protocol in collaboration with the CDC and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and states.”

Why the Timing Matters

Pennsylvania’s outbreak has grown steadily through the summer, and state officials have urged residents to verify vaccination status and seek prompt care for symptoms. The federal exclusion of two confirmed state-level reports arrives at a moment when public confidence in coordinated outbreak response is already strained. Governor Shapiro’s administration views the deaths as part of a transparent, data-driven effort to contain the outbreak; the HHS leadership frames its position as a matter of evidentiary rigor.

Swartz, a physician who has voiced strong support for vaccination and scientific methodology in prior roles, has drawn close scrutiny since assuming the directorship. Her public remarks since nomination have, in the assessment of some observers, raised questions about how she will navigate tensions between federal oversight and state-level epidemiological authority. The Pennsylvania episode is now the first major test of that dynamic.

Until additional information surfaces, the two deaths will remain outside the CDC’s national figure. State and federal officials have not indicated a timeline for resolution, leaving the question of whether measles directly caused or contributed to the fatalities unresolved in the public record.