Pennsylvania is seeking emergency support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a major measles outbreak expands across the state. However, officials warned that they may withdraw the request unless the federal agency publicly acknowledges four deaths associated with measles that Pennsylvania has reported.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has started the process of requesting CDC assistance through an emergency response known as an Epi-Aid, according to a letter reviewed by the Guardian. Reuters first reported the letter on Thursday.
Debra Bogen, Pennsylvania’s health secretary, set out the condition in a letter sent Wednesday to CDC director Erica Schwartz.
“The CDC’s choice not to publicly recognize the deaths undermines our response,” Bogen wrote. “For this reason, if CDC is unable to transparently and accurately communicate information about those measles-associated deaths, the department will respectfully rescind our request for a CDC Epi-Aid.”
The dispute comes as Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, and US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr continue to clash over the state’s response to the outbreak and the way measles-related deaths are recorded.
Kennedy has challenged the conclusion that deaths reported during measles outbreaks since he took office were caused by the virus, suggesting other medical conditions may have been involved. Last month, he directed the CDC to leave Pennsylvania’s reported fatalities out of the national measles death tally. Public health experts described the decision as “highly unusual” and cautioned that it could cause Americans to underestimate the disease’s risks.
Kennedy has also accused Shapiro of turning the outbreak into a political issue and of failing to request federal help.
Pennsylvania’s request represents a reversal of its earlier stance. State health officials had said they could contain the outbreak without federal assistance and had declined CDC support. Since then, the outbreak has continued to intensify.
The state health department said Wednesday that 731 measles cases had been confirmed in 38 counties so far this year. As of Tuesday, four people in Pennsylvania had died from measles-associated illness.
The CDC did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
after newsletter promotion
The outbreak is one of the largest and deadliest in the US, unfolding as the country faces its most serious measles resurgence in more than 30 years. Rising vaccine hesitancy has helped fuel the spread.
The Trump administration’s method for counting measles deaths was changed during the Pennsylvania outbreak, according to revelations this month. The CDC now relies on data from the National Center for Health Statistics, a system designed to monitor mortality patterns over time. Officials have not explained why the change was introduced.
Bill Cassidy, the Republican chair of the Senate health committee, said Wednesday that the Trump administration’s vaccine-skeptical approach was to blame for the recent measles deaths in Pennsylvania.
