Shapiro and RFK Jr. Clash on Social Media Over Vaccines Amid Measles Outbreak

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, are engaging in a strongly worded social media debate about vaccine misinformation and a measles outbreak in Pennsylvania.Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat considered a potential 2028 presidential hopeful, held a news conference on Tuesday announcing that two deaths in Lancaster County were measles-related and said they were the first measles deaths in the state in 35 years. The governor used the event to criticize Mr. Kennedy, claiming the longtime vaccine skeptic was spreading misinformation about vaccines and scaring parents.A Lancaster County commissioner, Josh Parson, a Republican, questioned the deaths in an X post. He questioned whether the patients had died “OF measles or WITH measles.”“As of right now, we have ZERO information that corroborates the idea that there were two measles deaths in Lancaster County,” Mr. Parson wrote.Mr. Kennedy responded to the post and accused Mr. Shapiro of “gaslighting” at the news conference. Mr. Kennedy said the Lancaster County coroner had no record of any measles deaths.“The announcement appears to have been premature, and the deaths may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor’s hopeful staffers,” Mr. Kennedy stated. The health secretary went on to claim Mr. Shapiro was not cooperating with federal health authorities.Mr. Shapiro responded with his own X post. He said Mr. Kennedy’s post was “inaccurate and misleading and he is making claims that have been debunked repeatedly by actual scientists and doctors.” The governor said health officials had been in communication with the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.Mr. Shapiro also said he had been on the phone with Mr. Kennedy and told him that it would be helpful to encourage people to get vaccinated. “He then launched into a tirade — talking about fetal tissue and blaming the previous Administration for this problem. He even told me it would be better if we went back to ‘natural measles,'” Mr. Shapiro stated.The governor also said that Mr. Kennedy had visited Lancaster a few years earlier and downplayed the severity of measles while telling an audience that the cure was “chicken soup and vitamin A.”Mr. Shapiro went on to say “real doctors and trusted medical institutions” had discredited conspiracy claims that vaccines contain fetal cells.Mr. Kennedy reacted by repeating assertions that the measles vaccine contains approximately 646 billion pieces of human DNA from aborted fetal cell lines.“The Trump administration is working to restore public trust not by gaslighting or manipulating, but by being truthful, at last, with the public,” Mr. Kennedy said.Pennsylvania is in the midst of a measles resurgence. The state says there have been nearly 400 cases and 70 hospitalizations across 29 counties in the first 8 months of 2026. The bulk of the cases have been reported in Lancaster CountyThe state’s secretary of health, Dr. Debra Bogen first announced the measles-related deaths. “As a pediatrician with more than 30 years of caring for children, I have thoroughly reviewed the case investigation information and sadly can confirm that there were two recent measles-associated deaths in Lancaster County, which were reported to the CDC’s measles response team early Tuesday morning,” Dr. Bogen said in a release.On Wednesday, the state’s health department released more information about one of the deaths after the Lancaster County coroner, Steve Diamantoni, said his office was investigating the death of a newborn who tested positive for measles. Mr. Diamantoni said the baby actually died from a ruptured spleen and not measles.A national vaccine safety expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Paul Offit, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that measles can cause an enlarged spleen and birth can cause it to rupture. He said the coroner should provide another explanation for the rupture if it wasn’t caused by measles.The state confirmed an infant was among the two measles-associated deaths and that both victims were unvaccinated. It said no other information about the victims would be released to protect their privacy.

Shapiro and RFK Jr. Clash on Social Media Over Vaccines Amid Measles Outbreak

Shapiro and RFK Jr. Clash on Social Media Over Vaccines Amid Measles Outbreak

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