US measles epidemic.

[dann]

Do you understand that if an adult has not been vaccinated for measles as a child, it's not because of RFK Jr or Trump?

... But RFK Jr. has little to do with that right now. Adults who didn't get vaccinated as kids didn't miss getting vaccinated because of RFK Jr. That herd immunity isn't missing because of anything that happened within the last two years.

Do you understand that if adults didn't get infected with or vaccinated against measles as children, it doesn't prevent them from getting vaccinated as adults? I got the MRR jab (self-paid) last year – just to be on the safe side.
My family had told me that they didn't think I had had any of the three diseases it protects against: measles, mumps and rubella. I guess I might have been tested for antibodies against all three of them, but it was so much easier just to get the jab. I obviously wouldn't have thought to do so if I had bought into RFK Jr.'s anti-vaxxer BS.
By the way, no side effects! Not even a mild case of autism ...

 

[ddt]

My mom always told me I hadn't had measles. When in 2016, a widely viewed Dutch talk show had a couple of antivaxxers as guests and gave them too much room and credibility, in my opinion. That's when I decided to get an MMR-jab just for safety. The jab was like € 30, that's definitely cheaper and easier than testing for antibodies.

 

[ddt]

Because it isn’t as if he has had a career and and organization dedicated to increasing vaccine hesitancy.

Just looked it up. RFK Jr. founded Children's Health Defense in 2005. Yes, the children of people who were influenced in the early days are now just adults. But the influence of RFK Jr.'s foundation was much, much less than his influence now as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

 

[angrysoba]

Just looked it up. RFK Jr. founded Children's Health Defense in 2005. Yes, the children of people who were influenced in the early days are now just adults. But the influence of RFK Jr.'s foundation was much, much less than his influence now as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Whoah! ddt! Good to see you again!

 

[dann]

Conflicting information continues in measles-associated death of Pennsylvania newborn (CIDRAP, Aug 31, 2026)

Lancaster County coroner confirms second measles death in a child (CIDRAP, Sep 3, 2026)
Yesterday the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, coroner said he was investigating the death of a child who tested positive for measles. It is not clear if this is a new death in addition to the two announced last week, or if this is the second death from last week.
“Just today, we received a report of another child who died with measles, and we’re in the process of doing an investigation,” Stephen Diamantoni told local news affiliates last night. He explained the death occurred “a few weeks ago.”

I hope Ziggurat (see post 181), who seems to be crusading to free RFK Jr. and Trump, i.e. MAHA/MAGA, from all responsibility for the measles death of a newborn child in Pennsylvania, takes notice of this one:

CIDRAP Op-Ed: ‘Died with, not from’ was a real COVID problem. It’s the wrong framework for measles. (CIDRAP, Sep 3, 2026)
The newborn's case illustrates the difference. According to the family, who spoke to The Atlantic and NBC News, the mother became severely ill with measles after her other children (!) caught it, and went into labor about a month early. The baby was born not breathing and could not be resuscitated. Measles virus was later found in his lung tissue.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

If it weren't for the fact that one of actors was much too young to act:

But maybe MAGA can accuse the mother of deliberately having contracted measles to provoke a postpartum 'abortion'.

Most of them were too young to act at Sandy Hook to. Didn't stop the republitraitors and their lickspittles.

 

[dann]

Lancaster County coroner says measles caused second infant death as US cases soar past 3,100 (CIDRAP, Sep 4, 2026)
Today in Pennsylvania, Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni, MD, confirmed that the county’s second measles infant death, which he initially called “measles associated,” was caused by the highly contagious virus. The county is the site of a rapidly growing measles outbreak.
Earlier this week, Diamantoni confirmed that measles was detected in a child who had died a few weeks ago. When the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed two measles-related deaths last week, it provided little information on the patients, including their ages.

Measles cases in 2026 (CDC, Sep 4, 2026)
As of September 3, 2026, 3,134 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. Among these, 3,118 measles cases were reported by 47 jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. A total of 16 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the United States.
There have been38 new outbreaks** reported in 2026, and 95% of confirmed cases (2,969 of 3,134) are outbreak-associated (1,594 from outbreaks starting in 2026 and 1,375 from outbreaks that started in 2025).

 

[dann]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lies about measles in Samoa (Respectful Insolence, Aug 31, 2026)
In 2019, RFK Jr. went to Samoa to promote antivax propaganda that fueled a measles outbreak. We now learn it was even worse than reported.

 

[dann]

Trump Regime Caught Deleting THIS After CRISIS EXPLODES... (MeidasTouch on YouTube, Sep 6, 2026 – 13:47 min.)
The CDC’s own website just quietly changed. Weeks after Pennsylvania reported the first US measles deaths of 2026 — one a newborn who tested positive for measles hours before dying — the specific sentence excluding those deaths from the count disappeared, replaced by a vaguer one. Today on ELLA: Black and Brown Women Disruptors in Healthcare and Beyond, Dr. Haydée Brown and Dr. Sonya Sloan trace what happened in between: newly confirmed CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz personally ordering the deaths excluded, reportedly at Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s request, while the agency’s own internal system keeps counting them as confirmed. Plus: what it cost Schwartz to walk away from an $850,000 job for “the mission,” 2026’s case count hitting 3,134 and already topping all of 2025, and the 1918 Philadelphia parade that offers an uncomfortable preview of what happens when public health truth gets sacrificed to political convenience.

1:12–> So, what's changed is that the government's own scientists still count these two deaths as confirmed internally, right? It's the number that they show you that keeps changing.
So, that's today in a sentence: The CDC knows, but the public does not.
(...)
12:38–> So, we don't have a public health agency anymore. Here's the irony that the conspiracy theorists, HHS Secretary RFK Jr., the vaccine deniers now run the agencies that they built their conspiracies about. So instead of transparency, what we're seeing is that they're erasing the data.

 

[dann]

RFK Jr.’s Sickening Measles Victory Lap (The Bulwark, Sep 6, 2026)
While Pennsylvania struggles to contain an outbreak, the anti-vax health secretary keeps trying to score political points.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. IS CLAIMING vindication in an ongoing controversy about a measles outbreak in Pennsylvania.
He shouldn’t be.
At the center of the controversy are two measles-related deaths that the state announced on August 25. Both were in Lancaster County, home to a large Amish population. The state didn’t immediately release more biographical details, but after the announcement Josh Shapiro, the state’s Democratic governor, held a press conference to warn about the public health threat and urge residents to vaccinate both themselves and their children.

RFK lies about the MMR killing kids (Jonathan Howard on YouTube, Feb 7, 2026 – 1 min.)

 

[Resume]

RFK lies about the MMR killing kids (Jonathan Howard on YouTube, Feb 7, 2026 – 1 min.)

I hate this dangerous liar.

 

[dann]

Every person of sound state and mind does.

 

[dann]

Measles Cases Growing in PA (ButlerRadio.com, Sep 9, 2026)
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is now reporting over 100 people have been hospitalized from the Measles outbreak.

 

[dann]

Jonathan Howard on bsky, Sep 10, 2026
Measles continues to spread and trust in MAHA continues to collapse.
New discussion.
https://bsky.app/profile/joho.bsky.social/post/3mv4z4mlwak2w#

Measles Returns as Trust in Public Health Collapses
Podcast Episode · We Want Them Infected Podcast · September 10 · 53m

podcasts.apple.com

 

[dann]

CDC Measles Death Pushback Fuels Staff Fears Over New Leader (Bloomberg, Sep 11, 2026)

• The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn't include two Pennsylvania measles deaths in its 2026 outbreak count for the third week in a row.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

At Science-Based Medicine David Gorski wrote, "...in Ohio, antivaxxers are kicking up a fuss about a surprisingly rational policy (given the state and its politics) designed to help control school outbreaks of measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. Over at Children’s Health Defense, the antivax org founded by our current Secretary of Health and Human Services and longtime antivax activist, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Michael Nevradakis is in fine fettle complaining that Ohio Schools Can Send Unvaccinated Kids Home for 25 Days — Even If They’re Not Sick."

 

[dann]

In the RFK Jr. thread.

 

[dann]

Making measles great again in Ohio (Science-Based Medicine, Sep 14, 2026)
Dr. Jonathan Howard was right. They really do want you—and your kids—infected, preferably with measles. One way they’ll accomplish this is by preventing schools from excluding unvaccinated children during outbreaks.

Like most David Gorski articles, it's pretty long but also pretty comprehensive.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

Zachary Rubin M.D. reported, "An unvaccinated 18-year-old has died from complications of measles in Pennsylvania. The Mifflin County Coroner determined the cause of death was acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), a rare and severe neurological complication of measles. Pennsylvania has now recorded four measles-associated deaths in 2026, and nearly 700 confirmed cases. Both of the deaths announced recently were in individuals who were not vaccinated." For more on ADEM see this link at the Cleveland Clinic.

 

[dann]

It remains to be seen if the CDC will register it.

Fourth measles-associated death reported in Pennsylvania (CIDRAP, Sep 15, 2026)
An 18-year-old has died of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a rare and severe neurological complication of measles, according to the coroner in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania.
The death was seemingly confirmed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which disclosed that a resident of Mifflin County, as well as a resident of Jefferson County, recently died from measles-associated complications.
The Jefferson County death appears to be a 40-year-old woman who died on September 12, according to the county coroner.

CDC’s new tracking method for measles deaths puzzles experts (CIDRAP, Sep 15, 2026)
Despite Pennsylvania reporting four recent measles-associated deaths, two in babies and two in adults, the CDC website states, “The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) does not currently have any death records from 2026 that indicate measles is the underlying cause.”

New polls highlight tumbling trust in measles vaccine safety, advice from doctors (CIDRAP, Sep 15, 2026)
As measles cases and deaths mount from multiple outbreaks across the United States, a four-day Reuters/Ipsos poll completed yesterday shows declining trust in the safety of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children (76%, down from 84% in 2020). The deteriorating trust was most apparent among Republicans.
(...)
A poll of nearly 13,000 people in 13 countries by the Edelman Trust Institute and Yale School of Public Health shows that, when given conflicting information from physicians and other sources, only 51% say they always went with the doctor’s advice, 34% say it depends on the situation, and 15% say they always follow the other sources.