Abstract:
The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed on Tuesday that two unvaccinated residents of the state have died from measles. This is the first time a measles death has been reported in the state in 35 years, and it is also the first measles death in the United States in 2026. A total of three measles deaths were reported in the United States last year, including two healthy unvaccinated school-age children in Texas and an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. Prior to this, there had been no measles deaths in the United States since 2015, when a woman with underlying medical conditions died due to worsening measles infection.
Due to privacy concerns, Pennsylvania health officials did not disclose more identifying information about the two deceased people, saying only that both were residents of Lancaster County and had not been vaccinated. Officials noted that the two deaths were part of a total of 393 confirmed cases reported in the state across 28 counties this year.
The deaths come as vaccination rates continue to decline nationwide and the number of cases of measles, one of the world's most contagious viruses, continues to rise. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that so far in 2026, at least 2,777 measles cases have been reported in the United States, setting a record since 1991.
In 2000, the United States officially announced that local measles had been eliminated after 12 months of continuous vaccination and successful interruption of the chain of virus transmission. Today, however, the measles vaccination rate in the United States has dropped to about 92%, significantly lower than the 95% target required to prevent the virus from spreading in the community. At the same time, the proportion of vaccination exemptions for non-medical reasons reached a new high this year, reaching 4%.
Specifically, in Pennsylvania, its measles vaccination rate has dropped from 96.7% in 2017 to 92.7% in 2026. This data comes from statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Lancaster County, where deaths occurred, state government data showed that only 87.6% of kindergarten freshmen were fully vaccinated against measles last school year.
The safety of measles vaccine raises concerns
宾州卫生部长德布拉·博根（Debra Bogen）博士对遇难者家属表示深切慰问，同时呼吁居民尽快接种疫苗。她在声明中表示："由于麻疹在本州已基本消失长达三十多年，人们对这种疾病并不熟悉，也未能充分认识到其潜在的严重性。我们希望确保每一位宾夕法尼亚州居民都能获得保护自己、亲人和社区所需的信息。作为一名医生，我想让大家明白，MMR疫苗是安全的，也是我们目前预防麻疹的最佳手段。"
Although the mortality rate from measles is low (about 1 to 3 deaths per 1,000 cases), the risk is real. In addition, the disease may in more cases be severe, leading to hospitalization and various complications, some of which may cause hearing loss or intellectual disability. The virus can also cause subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare but fatal neurological disease that often develops years after children appear to have recovered from the infection.
The combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is usually given to children in two doses when they are 1 year old and 4 years old, and is 97% effective in protecting against the virus. This combined vaccine has undergone rigorous clinical testing and has been used by millions of children around the world for decades, and its safety has been fully verified.
然而，反疫苗言论及各类虚假信息、误导性信息持续动摇公众对疫苗的信心，导致接种率不断走低。部分此类具有危害性的言论正是来自特朗普政府官员，其中最为突出的是坚定的反疫苗活动人士小罗伯特·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.），他目前担任美国卫生部长一职。特朗普总统本人也曾在两周前的一次白宫新闻活动中发表言论，错误地声称MMR疫苗"相当致命"，对此类误导信息的传播起到了推波助澜的作用。事实上，MMR疫苗从未在免疫功能正常者身上被证实与任何死亡病例存在关联（该疫苗不建议用于免疫功能低下人群）。
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