RFK Jr. admits measles caused Pennsylvania baby's death, accuses governor of playing politics

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Friday that measles did cause the death of a baby in Pennsylvania. He had earlier questioned the state's reports that two babies died from measles. A local coroner's findings convinced him to accept at least one of those deaths as measles-related. This comes as Pennsylvania deals with a large and growing measles outbreak.

Lancaster County coroner Stephen Diamantoni confirmed on Friday that a six-week-old baby died from measles last month. Kennedy shared that update on social media. The baby had a rare genetic condition called Amish lethal microcephaly, which can make children much more likely to get serious infections. Children born with this condition often do not survive more than a few months.

Kennedy and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro had been arguing publicly about how the deaths were reported. Shapiro said Kennedy told the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, known as the CDC, not to count the deaths in national data. "Instead of listening to the real doctors and public health experts, RFK chose to sow doubt, play politics, direct the CDC not to acknowledge these deaths, and even accuse me of fabricating these tragedies," Shapiro wrote on the social platform X.

Kennedy pushed back strongly against the governor's claims. He said the CDC was right to wait for solid evidence before reporting the deaths. "The facts emerging now demonstrate why CDC waited for the evidence rather than allowing political grandstanding to dictate its reporting," Kennedy wrote. He accused Shapiro of making political statements about the deaths before all the facts were known.

Pennsylvania health officials announced last week that two unvaccinated babies had died in connection with the state's measles outbreak. So far, the outbreak has made 577 people sick and put 98 in the hospital. Both deaths involved infants, but the coroner treated the two cases differently based on the medical evidence.

In one case, a doctor who studies the causes of death found the baby had died from a ruptured spleen. That doctor did not conclude measles caused that death. In the second case, Coroner Diamantoni reviewed the six-week-old's medical records and determined measles was the cause of death. Kennedy said the CDC will keep updating its records as more information becomes available.