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First US measles deaths of 2026 recorded in Pennsylvania; Gov. Shapiro lambasts RFK Jr. for spreading disinformation on vaccines. {CNN 25 August}
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/25/health/measles-deaths-pennsylvania
The article does not expressly state so, though the circumstances strongly suggest these were Amish folk: notorious for evading all sorts of obligations — paying Social Security and Medicare taxes, sending their children to compulsory high school education, serving on juries, registering for the draft, and vaccinating their offspring — that most of the rest of us are not at liberty to avoid. As a child on a road trip with family in the late 1980s, whilst visiting Lancaster County, it was surreal to observe people living as though the seventeenth century had never ended. I am no longer certain I regard them as quite so quaint and charming these days, all things considered. —
FTA: Both of the Pennsylvania deaths were in residents of Lancaster County. Health officials said they will not release any additional details.
Pennsylvania has confirmed 393 measles cases in 28 counties in 2026, Bogen said in a news conference Tuesday. Roughly half of them have been in Lancaster County, she said.
About 20% of cases in Pennsylvania this year have required hospitalization. Among measles cases confirmed by the health department, none have been in people who have received both recommended doses of the MMR vaccine, she added.
The highly contagious virus has continued its historic resurgence in the US this year, with a second record-breaking year in a row. The country has recorded more cases than 2,700 cases this year, more than any other year since 1991 – surpassing a grim milestone that was just topped last year.
The disease was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, but more cases have been recorded in the past year and a half than there have been in the previous 25 years combined. Experts expect that the US will soon lose its elimination status, the recognition by the World Health Organization that measles is no longer transmitting regularly within a country.
🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈
