Reports: RFK Jr. ordered measles deaths deletion; CDC still secretly counts them

报道：小罗伯特·肯尼迪下令删除麻疹死亡病例；CDC 仍在秘密统计

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still secretly counting two measles deaths that were deleted from the agency’s public measles data—a deletion that occurred at the direct request of anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to two reports released today. 据今天发布的两份报告显示，美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）仍在秘密统计两例麻疹死亡病例，而这两例死亡病例此前已从该机构的公开麻疹数据中被删除——此次删除是应反疫苗立场的卫生部长小罗伯特·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.）的直接要求进行的。

Early today, Reuters reported that Kennedy instructed new CDC director Erica Schwartz to delete the two deaths from the agency’s website. CDC staff had reportedly already reviewed information about the deaths and accepted the characterization that they were measles-related. Still, Schwartz deleted the deaths without objection, insiders told Reuters. 今天早些时候，路透社报道称，肯尼迪指示新任 CDC 主任埃里卡·施瓦茨（Erica Schwartz）将这两例死亡病例从该机构网站上删除。据报道，CDC 工作人员此前已经审查了有关这些死亡的信息，并认可了其与麻疹相关的定性。然而，据知情人士向路透社透露，施瓦茨并未提出异议，直接删除了这些记录。

According to previous reporting, the two deaths were added and then removed from the CDC’s website within hours on August 30. The deaths were of a newborn and a child, and they were reported last week by health officials in Pennsylvania. The state’s ongoing measles outbreak has sickened 540 so far, including 119 例 just in the last week. 根据此前的报道，这两例死亡病例于 8 月 30 日被添加到 CDC 网站上，但在数小时内又被删除。死者为一名新生儿和一名儿童，宾夕法尼亚州的卫生官员上周报告了这些病例。该州目前持续爆发的麻疹疫情已导致 540 人患病，仅上周就新增了 119 例。

This afternoon, Inside Medicine reported that an internal CDC database still includes the two deaths, according to a screenshot that was reportedly verified by CDC staff. The database, called “One CDC Data Platform,” is accessible to state and local health officials as well as CDC employees. Ars Technica reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about the discrepancy, but it did not immediately respond. 今天下午，《Inside Medicine》报道称，根据一张据称由 CDC 工作人员核实的截图显示，CDC 的一个内部数据库中仍然包含这两例死亡病例。该数据库名为“One CDC Data Platform”，州和地方卫生官员以及 CDC 员工均可访问。Ars Technica 就这一差异联系了美国卫生与公众服务部（HHS），但未立即得到回应。

Compromised CDC

受损的 CDC

Historically, state and local health departments are the ones that make determinations about cases and deaths in an outbreak, and the CDC collects the reports for nationwide reporting. Soon after Pennsylvania health officials announced the deaths, Kennedy got into a heated exchange with Governor Josh Shapiro, who criticized Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric and misinformation as helping to fuel such outbreaks. Kennedy fired back on social media, posting misinformation about the measles vaccine and claiming without evidence that the state may have “fabricated” the deaths. 从历史上看，州和地方卫生部门负责对疫情中的病例和死亡情况进行认定，而 CDC 则负责收集这些报告以进行全国性汇总。在宾夕法尼亚州卫生官员宣布这些死亡病例后不久，肯尼迪与州长乔什·夏皮罗（Josh Shapiro）发生了激烈争执，夏皮罗批评肯尼迪的反疫苗言论和虚假信息助长了此类疫情。肯尼迪随后在社交媒体上反击，发布了关于麻疹疫苗的虚假信息，并声称该州可能“捏造”了这些死亡病例，但并未提供任何证据。

When the CDC initially publicly reported the deaths on August 30, the agency included an unusual note saying that “Health departments make determinations about measles-associated deaths and share relevant information with CDC.” But now the two deaths have been deleted and what remains is an even more unusual note saying that the CDC was not reporting the deaths because “available information does not establish whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths or whether the individuals died from other causes while infected with measles.” 当 CDC 最初于 8 月 30 日公开报告这些死亡病例时，该机构附带了一条不同寻常的说明，称“卫生部门负责对麻疹相关死亡病例进行认定，并与 CDC 分享相关信息”。但现在这两例死亡病例已被删除，取而代之的是一条更不寻常的说明，称 CDC 未报告这些死亡病例，因为“现有信息无法确定麻疹是否导致或促成了这些死亡，也无法确定这些个人是在感染麻疹的同时死于其他原因”。

In an earlier statement to Ars Technica, HHS said that the two deaths in Pennsylvania “have not been confirmed based on the information currently available to CDC.” A spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question about what information the CDC was lacking and/or awaiting from the state. Pennsylvania’s state health department has said that it has provided the CDC with all the required information. 在早些时候给 Ars Technica 的一份声明中，HHS 表示，宾夕法尼亚州的两例死亡病例“根据 CDC 目前掌握的信息尚未得到证实”。一位发言人没有回应关于 CDC 缺少什么信息或正在等待州政府提供什么信息的后续提问。宾夕法尼亚州卫生部则表示，他们已经向 CDC 提供了所有必要的信息。