Measles deaths reported in Pennsylvania spark fight among politicians and health officials

Brittany Nicole Sponenberg’s son has been in a neonatal intensive care unit in Danville, Pennsylvania, for almost two months while his underdeveloped lungs and gut grew strong enough to handle regular breathing and feeding.

Before television cameras on Tuesday, the governor accused Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of sowing confusion about vaccines and contributing to the return of a disease the United States eliminated more than a quarter-century ago.

Since 2025, there have been five confirmed deaths related to measles—three CDC-confirmed measles deaths in 2025 and two deaths in 2026.

The conflict has centered around one of the deaths, a newborn who tested positive for the virus and died shortly after childbirth.