On Aug. 25th, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro held a press conference announcing two “measles-related” deaths in unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County. His carefully chosen words served the intended purpose. The story, framed as murder, ignited into headline news, and all fingers pointed to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump as the perpetrators.
As the fear-mongering narrative spread like wildfire, sanity emerged from the ashes. Forty-eight hours following Shapiro’s announcement, Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons, backed by Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, publicly refuted Shapiro’s claims. Contrary to what Shapiro stated, an infant (who happened to have measles antibodies), died during home childbirth due to a laceration of the spleen. The other “measles-associated" death remains a complete mystery to both the Coroner and Commissioner Parsons. Normally, the Coroner would be informed and involved in a death due to measles; one could presume the information was fabricated since he wasn’t.
The alternate version of events eventually made it to NBC, Fox News, and even the New York Times, but the damage was already done. Sadly, even the country’s highest infectious disease authority - the CDC - digested and dispersed Shapiro’s announcement without question; days later, it had to sheepishly concede important details are missing. As of the time of this writing, the CDC still can’t confirm what actually happened, using an asterisk on its website to designate number of deaths from measles in 2026.
David Deavel
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We’ve seen this playbook before, and rest assured, the hysteria had nothing to do with measles and nothing to do with health. A peek behind the curtain reveals a well-funded political hit job, a fear-campaign intended to discredit Trump and Kennedy in preparation for the upcoming midterm elections.
Moments after Shapiro’s press conference, Democrat activist group Protect Our Care declared “Trump and RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vax Crusade Just Got Two Pennsylvanians Killed.” President of Protect Our Care and former DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse issued an emotional fatwa against Trump and Kennedy:
“Two families are burying their loved ones because of Donald Trump and RFK Jr. Full stop. The two most powerful men in American health policy have fueled a measles outbreak in this country by turning their backs on more than half a century of sound science in favor of bullshit conspiracy theories. Trump and RFK Jr. have caused vaccination rates to drop and sparked the worst national measles crisis in three decades. RFK Jr. spent a career manufacturing doubt about the MMR shot, and now he and Trump have only amplified this anti-science, dangerous rhetoric. It’s been one anti-vax stunt after another as they’ve thrown out settled science and replaced it with pure junk, gambling with people’s lives in the process. Now two more people are dead, and it’s not close to over. Trump and RFK Jr. have blood on their hands, and every day they refuse to reverse course, they’re daring it to happen again. Mr. Kennedy, fucking resign already.”
Protect Our Care sits under the umbrella of far-left nonprofit The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a Soros-backed PAC with revenue of over $280 million in 2024. Shortly after Trump’s August 10th Executive Order on vaccines, Protect Our Care and another very well-funded healthcare PAC, 314 Action, joined forces to poll 525 registered voters on their attitudes toward vaccines.
Whereas Protect Our Care is backed by Soros, 314 Action is backed by a slew of other equally powerful entities, including AIPAC.
The questions posed in the poll were framed to elicit the correct responses, and with glee, on August 19th, Protect Our Care concluded “Voters Overwhelmingly Support Childhood Vaccinations, Strongly Oppose President Trump Changing Vaccine Schedule, and Say They View Republicans Less Favorably Because of It.” According to the poll, not only are vaccines safe and effective, anyone questioning them will be voted out of office.
The President of Protect Our Care, Brad Woodhouse, promptly hosted vaccine-enthusiast Paul Offit on his podcast to discuss the results. While pontificating on the consequences of questioning vaccines, Offit accidentally showed his cards by mentioning Governor Shapiro’s “correct stance” on vaccines. This slip occurred six days before Shapiro’s press conference; did Offit and others withhold knowledge of the deaths until Shapiro could announce? Six days later, Gov. Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Department of Health stood in front of a sea of cameras to frame measles - and vaccine refusal - as the cause of death of two Pennsylvanians. Why did Offit mention Shapiro during that podcast six days earlier if he didn’t know what was about to transpire?
The setting and timing of Shapiro’s press conference were no coincidence, and the message was far from sincere. Beyond politics, the financial stakes motivating Shapiro are high. Pennsylvania is ground-zero for US vaccine manufacturers (50% of vaccines in the US are manufactured in the state), and just two months prior, Gov. Shapiro handed vaccine manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur a $10.6M grant for flu shots. Shapiro has boasted that GlaxoSmithKline's vaccine plant in Marietta, Pennsylvania is "the largest Commonwealth-supported economic development project in Lancaster County history,” and the Shapiro administration has documented over $5.5B in state-backed pharmaceutical programs. Relevant details like this would be nice to know when a government official takes a controversial stance surrounding a heated issue like vaccines. Other industries require it, but politicians are allowed to lie by omission.
This story is still fresh, still unresolved, but the hoped-for outcome seems upended - amazing considering the immense powers in play. Millions of dollars, multiple PACs, a revered public health expert, and a Governor with Presidential aspirations joined forces, exploiting the deaths of two Americans in an attempt to take down the two most controversial politicians in office. But thanks to Commissioner Josh Parsons, Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, and a handful of independent journalists and their followers, their mission not only failed but completely backfired.
If the present momentum continues, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro will go down in history as the man responsible for completely discrediting the pro-vaccine movement. And miraculously, the victory didn’t cost anything - all it took was integrity, courage and truth.
