Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to remove two Pennsylvania deaths from its online measles tally after questioning whether the disease contributed to them, according to an exclusive new report.
The Trump administration official issued the directive even though CDC staff had already accepted Pennsylvania’s determination that the deaths were linked to measles, Reuters reported Thursday. Newly appointed CDC Director Eric Schwartz reportedly carried out the order without objection.
Such interference is “unheard of,” Georges Benjamin, head of the American Public Health Association and a former Maryland health secretary, told Reuters.
“The secretary had no business interfering in the normal process,” Benjamin said. “He has an anti-vaccine agenda and he’s using this to play out his anti-vaccine agenda.”
Kennedy’s unusual move came after a bitter back-and-forth between Kennedy and Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro over the state’s outbreak, which spilled onto social media.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said the CDC “requested details necessary to determine whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths.” The spokesperson cited conflicting accounts from county and state officials, Reuters said, and did not address reporting about Kennedy’s directive.
“The Pennsylvania health department notified the CDC of two measles-associated deaths on the morning of August 25 and then made the news public on its website, according to the Pennsylvania official, who is close to Shapiro,” the report said.
The agency initially raised no concerns and “signified its ongoing support for the (state health) department’s efforts,” for the health department’s findings, Reuters reported Thursday.
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