GoKawiilTwo unvaccinated people have died from measles in Pennsylvania, state health officials confirmed Tuesday.
They are the first measles deaths reported in Pennsylvania in 35 years and the first deaths reported in the US in 2026. Last year, the US saw three measles deaths: two in otherwise-healthy but unvaccinated school-age children in Texas and one in an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. Prior to those deaths, the US had not seen a measles death since 2015, when a woman with underlying conditions became severely ill.
Citing privacy, health officials in Pennsylvania are not providing information on the people who died beyond that they were unvaccinated and were residents of Lancaster County. Officials noted that the deaths are among 393 confirmed cases reported this year across 28 counties in the state.
The new deaths come as vaccination rates continue to slip nationwide and cases of the virus—one of the most contagious in the world—continue to surge. Already in 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tallied at least 2,777 cases, the highest total since 1991.
The US had previously declared measles eliminated in 2000, after concerted vaccination efforts broke the chains of transmission over a 12-month period. But now, US vaccination rates have slipped to around 92 percent, significantly below the 95 percent target needed to prevent the virus from spreading in communities. Non-medical vaccination exemptions, meanwhile, have reached yet another record high this year, hitting 4 percent.
In Pennsylvania, vaccination rates against measles have fallen from 96.7 percent in 2017 to 92.7 percent in 2026, according to data compiled by the CDC. In Lancaster county, where the deaths occurred, only 87.6 percent of kindergartners were fully vaccinated against measles in the last school year, according to state data.