Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Suggests Measles Deaths in Pennsylvania May Be Fabricated
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday went as far as to suggest that the two measles deaths reported in Pennsylvania earlier this week may “have been altogether fabricated” by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s team.
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The Guardian USAnti-vaccine activists are trying to track down the families of two people, including at least one newborn, who died after contracting measles in Pennsylvania, as governor Josh Shapiro tangles with Robert F Kennedy Jr over his “inaccurate and misleading claims”.
The AtlanticMeasles outbreaks around the country are already a disaster, but more bad news arrived on Tuesday. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announced that two measles-associated deaths had occurred in Lancaster County. “These mark the first deaths related to measles within the Commonwealth in 35 years,” an accompanying statement declared. Both individuals were said to have been unvaccinated, but the state Health Department declined to release any other information about the cases, citing privacy concerns.
BreitbartPennsylvania death number two from the measles has not been confirmed, and Pennsylvania health officials are outright lying about why the Lancaster County coroner’s office has no record of any deaths from measles.
NBC NewsAfter the Pennsylvania Health Department announced Wednesday that one of the two people whose deaths in the state were associated with measles was an infant, the coroner involved in the case has said he does not consider measles to be the cause of death.
PBS NewsHourAP report: RFK Jr. said a Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines. New documents refute that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then a prominent anti-vaccine activist, preempted the 2019 visit with a letter to the Samoan prime minister requesting to study the Pacific island nation's measles, mumps and rubella vaccines after the deaths of two children who had received them. In the letter, he used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times.
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But Pennsylvania notified the CDC of the deaths early Tuesday morning, before making the public announcement, Dr Debra Bogen, the state’s secretary of health, said in a statement.
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BreitbartPennsylvania’s Secretary of Health, Debra Bogen, repeated this in her attempt to enjoy some X-ownage of RFK Jr. – “Under state law, PA DOH is not required to report deaths to coroners,” she snarks.
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It is still unclear whether measles played a role in the infant’s death. An infection can cause the spleen to enlarge — which raises the risk of rupture — but that could be difficult to detect in an autopsy after a rupture has occurred. Diamantoni, a Republican who has held the elected position since 2008, said he did not find evidence that the infant’s spleen was enlarged.
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The AtlanticHere’s what we know so far: In the one case for which additional information has been released, an infant whose lab tests showed evidence of a measles infection died shortly after birth because of a lacerated spleen. According to an interview with the county coroner conducted by The Philadelphia Inquirer, a forensic pathologist decided that this fatal injury was not related to the infection.
The Guardian US“If you have an enlarged spleen and you’re infected with measles virus, the measles virus caused your enlarged spleen. If you then have a splenic rupture which kills you, you die from measles,” Offit said.
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Lawyers with expertise in Senate procedure said that if lawmakers choose, they could use Kennedy’s statements as grounds for hearings, an impeachment inquiry or creating other obstacles for him. But such action is unlikely under the current Republican-led Congress, which is aligned with President Donald Trump’s administration.
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The Guardian USStill, attorneys with expertise in Senate procedure said that if Democrats win control of the House or Senate in November’s elections, they could use Kennedy’s statements as grounds for hearings or an impeachment inquiry, or to create other obstacles for the Trump administration.
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“It is clear that Kennedy misled Congress about his intentions in Samoa and his stance on vaccinations during his confirmation hearings two years ago. It is time for him to immediately resign,” Green said. “He must do this for the safety and health of our country.”
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HuffPostThe letter raises questions about how truthful Kennedy was in testimony before Congress. During an arduous confirmation process where he needed the support of some skeptical Republican lawmakers to advance, Kennedy also pledged to maintain vaccine policies that, once in office, he moved to change.
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The Department of Health and Human Services said in response to questions from the AP that the Samoa visit “was unrelated to vaccines.”
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The Guardian USThe Guardian sought comment from the Department of Health and Human Services about the Democratic officials’ calls for investigation or removal, but it did not immediately respond. In a previously issued statement it said Kennedy’s visit to Samoa “was unrelated to vaccines. Any claim or insinuation based on these letters that Secretary Kennedy lied under oath or to Congress is not only false but outright defamatory.”
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“Any claim or insinuation based on these letters that Secretary Kennedy lied under oath or to Congress is not only false but outright defamatory,” the department said in a written statement. Kennedy was not under oath during his confirmation hearing. Knowingly giving material false testimony to Congress is a crime that carries a possible prison sentence regardless of whether a person is under oath, though it is rarely prosecuted.
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The Guardian USKennedy was not under oath during the two confirmation hearings. Wyden’s staff said whether he was under oath is not relevant since it is a crime to lie during a confirmation hearing either way.
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As of Aug. 20, 2,777 measles cases have been reported across the country this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The figure is already higher than the total number of cases of the disease reported in the U.S. for the entirety of 2025, the CDC added.
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NBC NewsNationwide, 2,777 measles cases have been confirmed this year, the most in 35 years.
8 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 The Hill Trump officials cast doubt on Pennsylvania measles death claims Top Trump administration health officials are openly questioning the circumstances of two deaths that Pennsylvania officials attributed to measles. “We don’t know exactly what happened in Pennsylvania yet,” Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in an interview Thursday on Fox Business.   “We don’t know if the children died…
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02 Fox News Democrat Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro joined a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration Thursday challenging new conditions on federal family planning grants, including requirements aimed at ensuring taxpayer resources do not support elective abortion and promoting "life-affirming" services.
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03 The Guardian US Brian Hooker at Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine organization that until recently was led by Kennedy, said in a recent video that the organization is “trying to get boots on the ground” and “do outreach” in Pennsylvania.
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04 The Atlantic As a pathologist, I am used to fielding questions about how and why people die. Such calls were particularly frequent during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when many people doubted COVID-19’s official death toll. Some alleged that anyone who merely happened to die while infected—in a car crash, let’s say, or from cancer—was being counted in official numbers. (In fact, government statistics were underestimating the number of Americans who were dying from COVID.) Admittedly, determining why someone died is in many cases difficult for experts such as myself. The body is a frustratingly complex machine. A mild illness can lead to a cascade of severe bodily dysfunction; disparate diseases may all crop up simultaneously.
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05 NBC News The health secretary, Dr. Debra Bogen, expressed confidence Wednesday in her department’s conclusion that the death was “measles-associated,” a term that means there was laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of a measles infection.
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06 HuffPost Dr. Debra Bogen, Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, contested the validity of the claims made by Kennedy without naming the Trump official.
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07 The Intercept Two months after Iris Dayana Monterroso Lemus lost her son to a stillbirth last year while detained by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the Trump administration issued a public response to her allegations that she did not receive prenatal care.
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08 Breitbart The word “from” matters. “I want to be clear: this illness and death from measles is completely preventable,” Philly Voice quotes the governor as saying from a podium set up at a local hospital in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
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