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

CDC Withholds Two Pennsylvania Measles Deaths From National Tally, Sparking Public Health Controversy

Healfromzero.com – The federal agency tasked with tracking infectious disease in America has taken a step that many in the public health community describe as unprecedented: it is refusing to count two measles-linked fatalities reported by Pennsylvania in its official death tally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the Keystone State, in effect, that it lacks sufficient evidence to confirm whether the virus caused or contributed to either death — a position that has drawn sharp criticism from former CDC leaders and intensified an already volatile political standoff between Washington and Harrisburg.

A Break From Standard Protocol

Under longstanding practice, states investigate suspected disease deaths and report them to the CDC, which then aggregates the data into national counts. The determination of whether a person died “with” an infection or “from” an infection has traditionally been handled at the state epidemiology level, with the CDC compiling the broader picture. A death is generally included in a disease tally if the individual tested positive for the pathogen and died within roughly ten days of that positive result. The CDC’s current posture — pausing inclusion of two confirmed state-level reports pending further review — departs from that framework in a way that former agency officials say has no clear precedent.

The decision to exclude the two deaths from the weekly measles data update was made by Dr. Erica Schwartz, who assumed the CDC directorship in mid-August 2026. Two individuals familiar with the internal process confirmed that Schwartz directed the exclusion. The agency’s Friday update was delayed, and when the data finally appeared over the weekend, the 2026 death figure carried an asterisk and an explanatory footnote rather than a straightforward number.

“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.”

Pennsylvania Pushes Back

State health officials in Pennsylvania said they completed full epidemiological investigations before announcing the two fatalities. Neil Ruhland, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, emphasized that every reported case undergoes rigorous review against the CDC’s own case definition before it is communicated 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 state’s insistence that it has fulfilled its reporting obligations underscores the tension: the CDC is asking for additional information that, by the state’s account, has already been supplied.

The Political Fault Line

The dispute lands squarely on an existing rift between Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who has been working to contain a spreading measles outbreak in his state. Kennedy’s office has framed the CDC’s caution as a matter of scientific integrity and transparency.

“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,” said Grace Davis Jamison, a press secretary for HHS. “The information currently posted reflects the best available information and our commitment to transparency and telling the American people the truth – a foundational principle of the Trump Administration.”

The CDC’s own press office, when asked for comment, directed inquiries to Kennedy’s office — a routing that further blurred the line between independent agency judgment and departmental messaging.

Former CDC Leaders Call the Move Unusual

Dr. Nirav Shah, who served as CDC principal deputy director before departing his post in February 2025, called the decision “remarkable” and argued that overruling a state epidemiologist’s determination sits outside normal agency practice.

“The idea that you would second-guess the determination of the state epidemiologist is pretty remarkable,” Shah said. “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 noted that the umbrella term for infection-related deaths has long encompassed individuals who tested positive and died within a short window, without requiring a definitive causal attribution. The distinction between dying “with” a pathogen and dying “from” one, he argued, is not what the national tally has historically turned on.

Dr. Deb Houry, former CDC chief medical officer who resigned in protest after Kennedy’s administration removed her predecessor, Dr. Susan Monarez, in August 2025, described the situation as “a big deviation in protocol.” She pointed to a comparable case from New Mexico the previous year, in which a person tested positive for measles only after death. That death was added to the national total even while the investigation continued — the opposite of the current Pennsylvania handling.

“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,” Houry said.

What the Dispute Signals

For readers tracking the broader measles situation, the episode raises questions about how disease surveillance data will be produced and presented during an active outbreak. Pennsylvania’s outbreak has been growing, and the state’s Democratic leadership has been publicly pressing for federal resources and cooperation. A federal agency that withholds state-confirmed data during that same outbreak complicates the state’s ability to demonstrate severity and justify emergency measures.

Swartz, a physician who has voiced strong support for vaccination and scientific method in prior roles, has been under close scrutiny since taking the director’s seat. Her public remarks since nomination have led some observers to question how independently she will operate within a department whose secretary has clashed openly with state governments over pandemic-era policies. The Pennsylvania episode may become the defining early test of that question.

Until the CDC issues an updated count or clarifies its evidentiary threshold, the two Pennsylvania deaths will remain in a liminal statistical category — acknowledged by the state, questioned by the federal agency, and absent from the national figure Americans see each week. Whether that gap closes quickly or persists through the autumn outbreak season will shape how much trust the public places in the numbers that guide both policy and personal decisions about vaccination.