A vaccine-preventable disease that had been “eradicated” just a few years ago is sweeping across the United States and causing devastation.
ANALYSIS
The baby boy died in agony.
He had experienced a “traumatic rupture” of the spleen. Its enlargement is associated with severe infection.
Such as measles.
The virus continues to sweep across a vulnerable United States.
It had been “eradicated” just a few short years ago.
The infant was one of two measles-linked deaths reported this week in Pennsylvania. It’s treating another 200 sufferers. Some 20 per cent of those have been hospitalised.
“That’s one death per 200 people,” says Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia pediatrician Dr Paul Offit.
“This is much worse than people are saying.”
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 26, 2026
Some 2813 cases have been confirmed across the United States.
And rising.
“My deepest sympathies are with the loved ones who are facing this unimaginable loss,” State Secretary of Health Dr Debra Bogen said in a statement.
“As a physician, I want to make sure that people understand that the MMR vaccine is safe and provides the best protection we have against measles.”
That puts her in direct conflict with a politician.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK) is outspoken about his anti-vaccination agenda.
He refused to accept that his policies may have contributed to the deaths.
“The deaths may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor’s hopeful staffers,” Mr Kennedy accused on social media.
Governor Shapiro's unseemly rush to Lancaster County to convene a national press conference and his giddy delight in announcing two measles deaths was a morose commentary on the contemporary political dialogue. The performance was a replay of the Democrats' COVID playbook:… https://t.co/LvZf3br1dB
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) August 26, 2026
‘Gold Standard’ Science
“Sharing conspiracy theories and misinformation does not help the cause of public health,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said.
“It leaves people less healthy and less safe, and it leaves parents in a position where it’s harder for us to do our jobs to protect our children.”
That’s not what the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement wants to hear.
It wants “clean living”, simple (meat-based) diets and faith to solve everything.
An earlier attempt by the Trump Administration to slash the vaccine schedules was thrown out in court.
Now, RFK Jr has gone on the attack.
“Governor Shapiro’s unseemly rush to Lancaster County to convene a national press conference and his giddy delight in announcing two measles deaths was a morose commentary on the contemporary political dialogue,” he accuses.
“Governor Shapiro got his headlines. He correctly gambled that the slavish mainstream media would dutifully amplify his scolding without any effort to check his facts.”
CDC stands ready to assist Pennsylvania in responding to the measles outbreak, as we have successfully done in other states. CDC can provide federal expertise to help the affected community understand the risks of measles and protect vulnerable populations, including through the… https://t.co/NN6Pe193nt
— CDC (@CDCgov) August 27, 2026
RFK Jr is bypassing his own Centres for Disease Control and Prevention by getting the President to sign another executive order breaking the single MMR shot into separate ones.
“To date, there has been no published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots,” a statement from Merck, which has manufactured 800 million doses of the vaccine over the past 40 years, reads.
Its effectiveness has been closely scrutinised all the while.
It has a record of one adverse reaction per million doses.
“Together, there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal,” President Trump insisted.
“It’s inconvenient; it’s five stops.
“The worst thing that would happen would be nothing happens. We’re not going to lose anything.”
It’s “Gold Standard” science, the President insists.
The science says otherwise.
There is a real risk that missing or delaying one of the new separated doses will render the vaccine ineffective.
The MMR scare all began in the 1990s when British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield published a fraudulent medical paper. His own measles vaccine had been less successful.
A later review by the medical journal The Lancet found that his paper demonstrated data manipulation, an unrepresentative sample, unethical tests and conflicts of interest. So it was withdrawn.
But the idea remains a popular one among some social media influencers and politicians.
Cause and effect
“We don’t know exactly what happened in PAG yet,” insists anti-vaccination advocate and social media personality Dr Oz.
“We don’t know if the children died from measles or had another condition that was already attacking them and they happened to get measles at the same time.”
But science does know.
As does Dr Offit.
“The measles virus can be passed on in the womb or shortly after birth. The virus can cause the spleen to enlarge and rupture at birth,” he explains.
He went on to ask the Philadelphia coroner’s office to demonstrate an alternative explanation if it believes this was not the case.
Meanwhile, RFK Jr has used the public spotlight to amplify his message.
“Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro accused me of promoting conspiracy theories because I told him, during an earlier telephone conversation, that some Americans had religious objections to the MMR vaccine because it contained foetal tissue.”
The science is complicated.
But repeated reviews show the MMR vaccine doesn’t contain “aborted foetus debris”.
RFK Jr’s anti-vaccination crusade continues to gain ground.
He’s also appointed Dr Oz to lead US Medicaid and Medicare.
And President Trump is all aboard.
While recently signing an executive order affecting childhood vaccination, the 47th President of the United States also accused the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine of being unsafe. He repeated disproved fears that vaccination leads to autism and auto-immune diseases.
Meanwhile, national vaccination rates have collapsed since he took office.
“There’s real-life consequences to spreading misinformation,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro told a media briefing on Wednesday.
“There are real-life consequences to scaring people and not relying on actual doctors and actual medical professionals to provide unbiased information.”
Dr Offit expressed his dismay: “These deaths are entirely preventable”.
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer
