United States records first two measles deaths of 2026

Two people died from measles in Pennsylvania, US authorities announced, as cases of the disease rise amid declining vaccination rates.

These are the first measles-related deaths reported this year, and the first in Pennsylvania in 35 years.

The state health department said the two individuals, whose identities were not disclosed beyond being residents of Lancaster County, had not received the measles vaccine.

Lancaster is home to a large Amish population, a community known for its horse-drawn buggies and rejection of modern technology, and whose vaccination rates are lower than those of the broader American society.

These deaths follow the deaths of three people, including two children, from measles in 2025 when the outbreak began.

In 2000, the highly contagious disease was declared eliminated in the United States thanks to vaccination, but it has returned strongly in recent years, as vaccination rates decline and distrust in health authorities grows.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health Secretary in President Donald Trump’s administration, is accused of significantly contributing to the worsening situation by fueling concerns about vaccines.

Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement, “In 2026, after decades of eliminating measles in the United States, it is painful to see deaths from a disease that can be prevented by a vaccine widely used since the 1970s.”

He added, “Let’s go back to a time when measles was a disease pediatricians saw only in their textbooks, not in their examination rooms.”

More than 2,770 confirmed measles cases were recorded in the United States in 2026, surpassing the 2,289 cases recorded in 2025, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The US has not recorded such a high number of measles cases since 1991, when 9,643 cases were reported.

Before the development of the vaccine in the early 1960s, measles killed hundreds of children annually in the United States, and it still causes tens of thousands of deaths worldwide.