Two measles-linked deaths in Pennsylvania become a political flashpoint amid a major outbreak

The useful part

All of this comes as the country is in the midst of a record-setting number of measles cases for the second year in a row. So Pennsylvania has a rapidly growing measles outbreak that's spread to more than two dozen counties. The state has reported 424 cases so far this year, including 94 new cases just this week.

How it works

• He said that Governor Shapiro's office may have fabricated the deaths to score political points.
• This week, health officials in the state reported two deaths associated with measles in Lancaster County, which is the epicenter of the outbreak.
• The state initially declined to share any information about the deaths because of privacy concerns.
• Then yesterday, the Department of Health revealed that one of the deaths was in a newborn.
• publicly questioned whether the deaths were really attributable to measles.

What to take from it

Maria, this sounds a lot like what happened during the COVID pandemic, when people were questioning whether people dying were dying because of COVID or whether they had COVID but had died of some other primary cause. NPR does not offer or accept money for coverage or interviews. When Pennsylvania's Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, announced the two measles deaths on Tuesday, Shapiro said Kennedy was spreading misinformation about vaccine safety and scaring parents.

Example or evidence

• Then the Lancaster County Coroner's Office added fuel to the fire by saying that the newborn who died tested positive for measles, but the primary cause of death was a laceration of the spleen.
• On social media, anti-vaccine voices have pointed to that to say, hey, see, it wasn't measles.
• He says that kind of questioning is very much in the playbook of the anti-vaccine movement.
• He says measles could very well have contributed to the infant's ruptured spleen, although we need more information.

Details worth keeping

Those deaths have now become wrapped up in politics. The country is in the midst of a record-setting number of measles cases. This week, Pennsylvania officials reported two measles-related deaths.

Related coverage

• Nytimes: The conflict, which largely falls along political lines, centers on the details of one of the deaths, in a newborn.
• Wcpo: Health officials and politicians are disputing Pennsylvania's reported measles deaths as experts warn rising infections pose a growing public threat.
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