PA Seeks Help From CDC Over Measles Outbreak

The health department in Pennsylvania wants help from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in dealing with the current measles outbreak in the commonwealth.

That is according to a document reviewed by and reported exclusively by Reuters on Thursday.

Pennsylvania officials want the federal agency to recognize four measles-associated deaths reported by the state. The Trump administration has balked at counting the deaths in the Keystone State as being related to measles.

There’s been a standoff between U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Kennedy has doubted whether deaths reported in U.S. measles outbreaks were due to the virus or another cause. He  told the CDC not to include the Pennsylvania fatalities in a national tally.

Disease experts believe the move was highly unusual interference by a health secretary in the determination by state health officials and could minimize the risks of measles in the eyes of the public.

Kennedy, in turn, has accused Shapiro of politicizing the outbreak in Pennsylvania and of failing to request federal help.

In a letter sent to CDC Director ⁠Erica Schwartz on Wednesday evening, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Debra Bogen ⁠said the state had started the process to request emergency assistance from the CDC, known as Epi-Aid.

"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 CDC said it had the outbreak under control.

Pennsylvania's outbreak has since grown as there have been more than 700 confirmed cases across 37 counties and four measles-associated deaths, according to the state health department.