Calls for RFK Jr. to resign intensify after two measles deaths in Pennsylvania

Calls for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s resignation are mounting after two unvaccinated individuals died from measles in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. These are the first measles deaths in the United States this year and the first in Pennsylvania in more than three decades.

Measles Outbreak by the Numbers

• 393 confirmed measles cases across 28 counties in Pennsylvania this year
• 2,777 total cases nationally — a 35-year high

Political Reactions

Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) wrote Tuesday on X:

"RFK Jr.'s lies and conspiracy theories are making Marylanders sick. RFK Jr. must resign or be fired. Vaccines are safe and effective. Listen to your pediatrician."

Shaughnessy Naughton, president of the pro-science organizing group 3.14 Action, said:

"Measles is officially out of control. How many more people need to die before there is a nationwide call for RFK Jr. to resign? His anti-science, anti-vaccine policies are killing people and infecting a generation of Americans with dangerous vaccine skepticism that will take years to recover from."

Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) wrote on X last month:

"There is one effective way to reduce the spread and severity of measles: vaccination. And RFK Jr. has undermined it at every turn. He is a hazard to our health and must resign."

Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) stopped short of calling for Kennedy Jr.'s resignation on Tuesday but told reporters he had a "blunt" conversation with the health secretary:

"His actions and the rhetoric that's coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America, particularly right here in Pennsylvania. Sharing conspiracy theories and misinformation does not help the cause of public health — and it leaves people less healthy and less safe, and it leaves parents in a position where it's harder for us to do our jobs to protect our children."

Kennedy Center Controversy

In a separate development, the Trump administration is threatening to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts if it is not permitted to add Donald Trump's name to the building.

Legal and Financial Developments

In a court filing Monday, prosecutors suggested that a proposed $250 million renovation project — which includes affixing the president's name to the building's facade — was necessary for the institution's survival, according to The New York Times.

"Without those efforts, the center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down," the filing stated, "with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years."

Financial Impact

Trump's overhaul of the national theater has reportedly hastened its decline:

• The Kennedy Center is on track to fall $100 million short of its profit goal
• The shortfall is directly tied to Trump changing the institution's name
• It expects to miss its budget target by 70 percent and contributed revenue by 25 percent
• Projected deficit: $23 million

Timeline of Events

• May: The Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board first tried to close the center after multiple artists canceled performances in response to the proposed name change. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) successfully challenged the decision in court.
• The renovations were blocked by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who argued the board's decision was "ill-informed and seemingly preordained."
• Trump's name was subsequently scraped off the wall, and the building's facade has remained concealed by a massive tarp.
• Earlier this month: The board voted again, this time deciding to close the center for two weeks.