The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported six measles-related deaths in 2026 on Thursday, as the country confronts its largest outbreak since 1991, The Guardian reported.

The federal total is twice the number recorded in 2025. But the CDC did not identify which states accounted for the deaths, leaving its tally unreconciled with a higher combined number reported by state officials.

According to The Guardian, Pennsylvania officials have confirmed six measles-associated deaths this year. A child also died in New York on election day, and Wisconsin’s health department confirmed the death of an infant days later. The New York death was the state’s first known measles-related fatality in more than three decades.

More than 5,400 cases have been reported nationwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University International Vaccine Access Center tracker cited by The Guardian. Active outbreaks have been reported in nearly every state, with Pennsylvania the most severely affected.

The difference between the federal and state death figures follows a change in the CDC’s reporting method. A Sept. 4 note on the agency’s website said it was now using National Center for Health Statistics data, described as a means of tracking mortality trends over time.

The Guardian, citing Reuters reporting, said U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had asked CDC director Erica Schwartz not to include two Pennsylvania deaths in the official tally. Kennedy argued without evidence that those deaths might not have been caused by measles. The CDC changed its data source the day after Reuters published its report, according to The Guardian.

Measles is preventable through the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which offers approximately 97 per cent protection after two doses.

The United States officially declared measles eliminated in 2000. The Guardian reported that the country could lose that designation this week, though no decision was reported. That would place it alongside Canada and several countries in Europe and Asia where measles has returned after previously being eliminated.

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