The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is facing a scandal after it was revealed that two measles deaths were secretly deleted from their public records at the request of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to reports, Kennedy instructed the new CDC director, Erica Schwartz, to remove the deaths from the agency’s website, despite CDC staff already having reviewed and accepted the information as measles-related.

The deleted deaths were of a newborn and a child, reported in Pennsylvania as part of an ongoing measles outbreak that has sickened 540 people so far. This action by Kennedy and the CDC has raised eyebrows and concerns about the transparency and integrity of public health data in the United States.

Interestingly, an internal CDC database still includes the two deaths, as reported by Inside Medicine. The database, known as ‘One CDC Data Platform,’ is accessible to state and local health officials and CDC employees, highlighting the discrepancy between public and internal records.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has not yet commented on the discrepancy, leaving many questions unanswered. The incident has sparked discussions about the potential impact of such secrecy on public trust and the effectiveness of public health measures in the face of vaccine hesitancy.