Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked his new CDC director to remove two Pennsylvania infant deaths from the agency's online measles tally, Reuters reported Thursday, citing three sources familiar with the decision. On Friday, the Lancaster County coroner ruled on the first of them: the six-week-old girl died of measles.
“The child died from measles, not with,” coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said through Lancaster's CBS affiliate. “Measles was the cause of death in this case.”
The six-week-old girl was born in July into Lancaster County's Amish community and died August 18. Pennsylvania's health secretary confirmed two measles-associated deaths in the county on August 25, and the CDC answered with a footnote: its weekly update “will not include the two measles-associated deaths reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on August 25 while CDC reviews additional information.” The footnote has since vanished from the live page; CNN preserved it.
Reuters supplied the missing actor. Kennedy questioned whether measles contributed to the deaths and asked CDC Director Erica Schwartz to take them off the tally, the three sources said, and Schwartz “agreed with Kennedy's directive and implemented it without objection.” An HHS spokesperson said the department “requested details necessary to determine whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths.” Schwartz did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.
