{"id":2810,"date":"2026-08-31T23:38:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2810"},"modified":"2026-08-31T23:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:38:32","slug":"josh-shapiro-says-vaccination-rates-are-falling-under-trump-his-states-data-say-otherwise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2810","title":{"rendered":"Josh Shapiro Says Vaccination Rates Are Falling Under Trump. His State\u2019s Data Say Otherwise."},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro claims that vaccination rates have fallen under President Donald Trump and H<\/span>ealth and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/span><\/p>

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Data from his own state tell a different story.<\/p>

The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination rates of Pennsylvania kindergartners dropped nearly 2% during the Biden presidency, according to data the Pennsylvania Department of Health provided to The Daily Wire. The MMR vaccination rates went from 95.5% during the 2020-2021 school year to 93.7% during the 2024-2025 school year, data show. Vaccination<\/span> rates have consistently decreased since the 2019-2020 height of 96.4%, according to the Health Department.<\/span><\/p>

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Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen publicly stated the state\u2019s drop in vaccination rates occurred during the Biden administration during an October 2025 press conference at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).<\/span><\/p>

\u201cOver the past five years, we\u2019ve seen about a 3% decline in the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rate for children entering kindergarten in Pennsylvania. And we\u2019ve seen similar rates of decline in other vaccines,\u201d Bogen said at the\u00a0<\/span>press conference<\/span> where Shapiro signed an <\/span>executive order<\/span> promoting vaccination.<\/span><\/p>

But neither the facts nor his own administration\u2019s acceptance of them stopped Shapiro from pushing the claim that the Trump administration\u2019s policies were depressing vaccination rates.<\/p>

Shapiro\u2019s order, \u201cProtecting Pennsylvanians\u2019 Health and Freedom by Ensuring Access to Safe and Effective Vaccines,\u201d directs state agencies to follow vaccine advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics instead of the \u201cpolitically-influenced recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI do not want you to be guided by someone like RFK Jr. who I believe is wholly unqualified to give medical advice and who is restricting our freedoms here in Pennsylvania and across this country,\u201d Shapiro stated during the October 2025 press conference. \u201cRFK kicked off 17 highly qualified medical experts off of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices\u2026 including the very competent, the very qualified Charlotte Moser, the co-director of the Vaccine Education Center right here at CHOP.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Moser spoke at the signing alongside the hospital\u2019s CEO, Madeline Bell, who was a member of Shapiro\u2019s <\/span>transition team<\/span>. Bell met with President Joe Biden in September 2021 to discuss \u201cthe importance of vaccine mandates\u201d after the hospital\u2019s 22,000 employees were required to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in July 2021, according to the hospital\u2019s <\/span>website<\/span>. The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center is directed by <\/span>Dr. Paul Offit<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>

The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Shapiro and Bogen announced two \u201cmeasles-associated deaths\u201d had occurred in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on August 25. <\/span>Shapiro stated the deceased were \u201cunvaccinated\u201d and refused to provide any additional information. The governor laid blame on the Trump administration for the deaths and said he was \u201cvery, very blunt\u201d with <\/span>Secretary Kennedy on a phone call before the announcement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that\u2019s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America,\u201d Shapiro stated during the press conference. \u201cThere\u2019s real life consequences to spreading misinformation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Kennedy fired back at Shapiro on X, <\/span>claiming the governor acknowledged during their call that Pennsylvania\u2019s vaccination rates fell during the Biden administration.<\/span><\/p>

\u201cGovernor Shapiro also faulted me for the decline in Pennsylvania vaccination rates from 97% \u2013 93.2%. When I pushed back on this assertion, he acknowledged that most of the decline occurred during the Biden administration,\u201d Kennedy wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunately true that the government lockdowns, deceptions, manipulation, and overreach during Covid severely damaged public faith in the vaccine program. Governor Shapiro\u2019s press conference was an example of the same species of gaslighting.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Lancaster County Commissioner Joshua Parsons directly challenged Shapiro\u2019s narrative and claimed the county coroner had no record of any deaths caused by measles hours after the announcement in an X post.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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\u201cThe Coroner\u2019s office indicates that it currently has ZERO reported cases where measles is the immediate cause of death,\u201d Parsons wrote on August 25<\/span>. \u201cThey have one case where a person died WITH measles, but not FROM measles. Measles was definitely NOT the cause of death in that case.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

The Pennsylvania Department of Health posted a <\/span>statement<\/span> on August 26 suggesting a \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d death meant the deceased person had laboratory evidence of measles without it being assessed as \u201cthe immediate cause of death.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cPA DOH uses the term \u2018measles-associated\u2019 when laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present, but the disease may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death,\u201d the department said in the statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni confirmed to\u00a0<\/span>LancasterOnline<\/span> on August 27 that one of the announced \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d deaths was a newborn who died of a ruptured spleen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cMeasles was not the cause of death \u2014 the laceration to the spleen is the cause,\u201d reported <\/span>LancasterOnline<\/span>. \u201cAnd measles was ruled out as a contributing factor because, Diamantoni said, \u2018there was no swelling or enlargement whatsoever\u2019 of the spleen and there was \u2018massive blood loss\u2019 from the laceration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Shapiro has been criticized by both sides of the aisle for mishandling the situation and further eroding America\u2019s trust in public health. He was asked by a reporter on August 28 for clarity about the case, but he refused to provide additional information.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The governor\u2019s office did not respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s requests for comment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Parsons told The Daily Wire the Shapiro administration needs to be honest with the public.<\/p>

\u201cWe just want the facts and we want the truth about what happened here, and we haven\u2019t gotten that,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cI think the lesson that was learned from COVID is that government and public health officials need to be honest.\u201d<\/p>

This controversy has unfolded as the Shapiro administration is pushing to radically rewrite the state\u2019s health code and give itself authoritarian police powers, as\u00a0<\/span>previously reported<\/span> by The Daily Wire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The Democrats\u2019 <\/span>proposed changes<\/span> to the state\u2019s health code would give Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Health centralized police powers under the guise of \u201cdisease control measures,\u201d including the ability to enter homes and schools without a warrant, access confidential medical records, and impose statewide school mask mandates for disease prevention. <\/span>Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf used his unchecked emergency powers to impose some of the harshest COVID restrictions in the nation from March 2020 to June 2021, which were doggedly enforced by Shapiro, who at that time was Pennsylvania\u2019s attorney general.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Pennsylvanians responded to the COVID mitigation measures by passing a constitutional amendment in May 2021 that limited the governor\u2019s emergency powers to <\/span>three weeks<\/span>. <\/span>The Department of Health reports to the governor\u2019s office, meaning the proposed changes to Pennsylvania\u2019s health code would give Shapiro \u2014 and his successors \u2014 the ability to single-handedly implement draconian policies across the state.<\/span><\/p>

The Pennsylvania Department of Health will be able to stop students from receiving an in-person education if they are deemed \u201csusceptible\u201d to a disease, such as measles, and will require healthcare providers to input every delivered vaccination into a statewide database, unless the patient proactively declines in writing.<\/span><\/p>

A department spokesman told The Daily Wire the proposed regulations are undergoing a review process and encouraged Pennsylvanians \u201cto review the proposed regulations for themselves and participate in the regulatory process by providing feedback during the extended public comment period.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

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Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro claims that vaccination rates have fallen under President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Data from his own state tell a different story.The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination rates of Pennsylvania kindergartners dropped nearly 2% during the Biden presidency, according to data the Pennsylvania Department of Health provided to The Daily Wire. The MMR vaccination rates went from 95.5% during the 2020-2021 school year to 93.7% during the 2024-2025 school year, data show. Vaccination rates have consistently decreased since the 2019-2020 height of 96.4%, according to the Health Department.Screenshot of an email sent to The Daily Wire from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen publicly stated the state\u2019s drop in vaccination rates occurred during the Biden administration during an October 2025 press conference at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).\u201cOver the past five years, we\u2019ve seen about a 3% decline in the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rate for children entering kindergarten in Pennsylvania. And we\u2019ve seen similar rates of decline in other vaccines,\u201d Bogen said at the\u00a0press conference where Shapiro signed an executive order promoting vaccination.But neither the facts nor his own administration\u2019s acceptance of them stopped Shapiro from pushing the claim that the Trump administration\u2019s policies were depressing vaccination rates.Shapiro\u2019s order, \u201cProtecting Pennsylvanians\u2019 Health and Freedom by Ensuring Access to Safe and Effective Vaccines,\u201d directs state agencies to follow vaccine advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics instead of the \u201cpolitically-influenced recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.\u201d\u201cI do not want you to be guided by someone like RFK Jr. who I believe is wholly unqualified to give medical advice and who is restricting our freedoms here in Pennsylvania and across this country,\u201d Shapiro stated during the October 2025 press conference. \u201cRFK kicked off 17 highly qualified medical experts off of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices\u2026 including the very competent, the very qualified Charlotte Moser, the co-director of the Vaccine Education Center right here at CHOP.\u201dMoser spoke at the signing alongside the hospital\u2019s CEO, Madeline Bell, who was a member of Shapiro\u2019s transition team. Bell met with President Joe Biden in September 2021 to discuss \u201cthe importance of vaccine mandates\u201d after the hospital\u2019s 22,000 employees were required to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in July 2021, according to the hospital\u2019s website. The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center is directed by Dr. Paul Offit.The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0Shapiro and Bogen announced two \u201cmeasles-associated deaths\u201d had occurred in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on August 25. Shapiro stated the deceased were \u201cunvaccinated\u201d and refused to provide any additional information. The governor laid blame on the Trump administration for the deaths and said he was \u201cvery, very blunt\u201d with Secretary Kennedy on a phone call before the announcement.\u00a0\u201cI made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that\u2019s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America,\u201d Shapiro stated during the press conference. \u201cThere\u2019s real life consequences to spreading misinformation.\u201dKennedy fired back at Shapiro on X, claiming the governor acknowledged during their call that Pennsylvania\u2019s vaccination rates fell during the Biden administration.\u201cGovernor Shapiro also faulted me for the decline in Pennsylvania vaccination rates from 97% \u2013 93.2%. When I pushed back on this assertion, he acknowledged that most of the decline occurred during the Biden administration,\u201d Kennedy wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunately true that the government lockdowns, deceptions, manipulation, and overreach during Covid severely damaged public faith in the vaccine program. Governor Shapiro\u2019s press conference was an example of the same species of gaslighting.\u201d\u00a0Lancaster County Commissioner Joshua Parsons directly challenged Shapiro\u2019s narrative and claimed the county coroner had no record of any deaths caused by measles hours after the announcement in an X post.\u00a0\u201cThe Coroner\u2019s office indicates that it currently has ZERO reported cases where measles is the immediate cause of death,\u201d Parsons wrote on August 25. \u201cThey have one case where a person died WITH measles, but not FROM measles. Measles was definitely NOT the cause of death in that case.\u201dThe Pennsylvania Department of Health posted a statement on August 26 suggesting a \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d death meant the deceased person had laboratory evidence of measles without it being assessed as \u201cthe immediate cause of death.\u201d\u00a0\u201cPA DOH uses the term \u2018measles-associated\u2019 when laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present, but the disease may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death,\u201d the department said in the statement.\u00a0Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni confirmed to\u00a0LancasterOnline on August 27 that one of the announced \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d deaths was a newborn who died of a ruptured spleen.\u00a0\u201cMeasles was not the cause of death \u2014 the laceration to the spleen is the cause,\u201d reported LancasterOnline. \u201cAnd measles was ruled out as a contributing factor because, Diamantoni said, \u2018there was no swelling or enlargement whatsoever\u2019 of the spleen and there was \u2018massive blood loss\u2019 from the laceration.\u201dShapiro has been criticized by both sides of the aisle for mishandling the situation and further eroding America\u2019s trust in public health. He was asked by a reporter on August 28 for clarity about the case, but he refused to provide additional information.\u00a0 \u00a0The governor\u2019s office did not respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s requests for comment.\u00a0Parsons told The Daily Wire the Shapiro administration needs to be honest with the public.\u201cWe just want the facts and we want the truth about what happened here, and we haven\u2019t gotten that,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cI think the lesson that was learned from COVID is that government and public health officials need to be honest.\u201dThis controversy has unfolded as the Shapiro administration is pushing to radically rewrite the state\u2019s health code and give itself authoritarian police powers, as\u00a0previously reported by The Daily Wire.\u00a0The Democrats\u2019 proposed changes to the state\u2019s health code would give Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Health centralized police powers under the guise of \u201cdisease control measures,\u201d including the ability to enter homes and schools without a warrant, access confidential medical records, and impose statewide school mask mandates for disease prevention. Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf used his unchecked emergency powers to impose some of the harshest COVID restrictions in the nation from March 2020 to June 2021, which were doggedly enforced by Shapiro, who at that time was Pennsylvania\u2019s attorney general.\u00a0Pennsylvanians responded to the COVID mitigation measures by passing a constitutional amendment in May 2021 that limited the governor\u2019s emergency powers to three weeks. The Department of Health reports to the governor\u2019s office, meaning the proposed changes to Pennsylvania\u2019s health code would give Shapiro \u2014 and his successors \u2014 the ability to single-handedly implement draconian policies across the state.The Pennsylvania Department of Health will be able to stop students from receiving an in-person education if they are deemed \u201csusceptible\u201d to a disease, such as measles, and will require healthcare providers to input every delivered vaccination into a statewide database, unless the patient proactively declines in writing.A department spokesman told The Daily Wire the proposed regulations are undergoing a review process and encouraged Pennsylvanians \u201cto review the proposed regulations for themselves and participate in the regulatory process by providing feedback during the extended public comment period.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigation"],"yoast_head":"\nJosh Shapiro Says Vaccination Rates Are Falling Under Trump. His State\u2019s Data Say Otherwise. - Blue Route Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2810\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Josh Shapiro Says Vaccination Rates Are Falling Under Trump. His State\u2019s Data Say Otherwise. - Blue Route Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro claims that vaccination rates have fallen under President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Data from his own state tell a different story.The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination rates of Pennsylvania kindergartners dropped nearly 2% during the Biden presidency, according to data the Pennsylvania Department of Health provided to The Daily Wire. The MMR vaccination rates went from 95.5% during the 2020-2021 school year to 93.7% during the 2024-2025 school year, data show. Vaccination rates have consistently decreased since the 2019-2020 height of 96.4%, according to the Health Department.Screenshot of an email sent to The Daily Wire from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen publicly stated the state\u2019s drop in vaccination rates occurred during the Biden administration during an October 2025 press conference at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).\u201cOver the past five years, we\u2019ve seen about a 3% decline in the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rate for children entering kindergarten in Pennsylvania. And we\u2019ve seen similar rates of decline in other vaccines,\u201d Bogen said at the\u00a0press conference where Shapiro signed an executive order promoting vaccination.But neither the facts nor his own administration\u2019s acceptance of them stopped Shapiro from pushing the claim that the Trump administration\u2019s policies were depressing vaccination rates.Shapiro\u2019s order, \u201cProtecting Pennsylvanians\u2019 Health and Freedom by Ensuring Access to Safe and Effective Vaccines,\u201d directs state agencies to follow vaccine advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics instead of the \u201cpolitically-influenced recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.\u201d\u201cI do not want you to be guided by someone like RFK Jr. who I believe is wholly unqualified to give medical advice and who is restricting our freedoms here in Pennsylvania and across this country,\u201d Shapiro stated during the October 2025 press conference. \u201cRFK kicked off 17 highly qualified medical experts off of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices\u2026 including the very competent, the very qualified Charlotte Moser, the co-director of the Vaccine Education Center right here at CHOP.\u201dMoser spoke at the signing alongside the hospital\u2019s CEO, Madeline Bell, who was a member of Shapiro\u2019s transition team. Bell met with President Joe Biden in September 2021 to discuss \u201cthe importance of vaccine mandates\u201d after the hospital\u2019s 22,000 employees were required to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in July 2021, according to the hospital\u2019s website. The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center is directed by Dr. Paul Offit.The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0Shapiro and Bogen announced two \u201cmeasles-associated deaths\u201d had occurred in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on August 25. Shapiro stated the deceased were \u201cunvaccinated\u201d and refused to provide any additional information. The governor laid blame on the Trump administration for the deaths and said he was \u201cvery, very blunt\u201d with Secretary Kennedy on a phone call before the announcement.\u00a0\u201cI made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that\u2019s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America,\u201d Shapiro stated during the press conference. \u201cThere\u2019s real life consequences to spreading misinformation.\u201dKennedy fired back at Shapiro on X, claiming the governor acknowledged during their call that Pennsylvania\u2019s vaccination rates fell during the Biden administration.\u201cGovernor Shapiro also faulted me for the decline in Pennsylvania vaccination rates from 97% \u2013 93.2%. When I pushed back on this assertion, he acknowledged that most of the decline occurred during the Biden administration,\u201d Kennedy wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunately true that the government lockdowns, deceptions, manipulation, and overreach during Covid severely damaged public faith in the vaccine program. Governor Shapiro\u2019s press conference was an example of the same species of gaslighting.\u201d\u00a0Lancaster County Commissioner Joshua Parsons directly challenged Shapiro\u2019s narrative and claimed the county coroner had no record of any deaths caused by measles hours after the announcement in an X post.\u00a0\u201cThe Coroner\u2019s office indicates that it currently has ZERO reported cases where measles is the immediate cause of death,\u201d Parsons wrote on August 25. \u201cThey have one case where a person died WITH measles, but not FROM measles. Measles was definitely NOT the cause of death in that case.\u201dThe Pennsylvania Department of Health posted a statement on August 26 suggesting a \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d death meant the deceased person had laboratory evidence of measles without it being assessed as \u201cthe immediate cause of death.\u201d\u00a0\u201cPA DOH uses the term \u2018measles-associated\u2019 when laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present, but the disease may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death,\u201d the department said in the statement.\u00a0Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni confirmed to\u00a0LancasterOnline on August 27 that one of the announced \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d deaths was a newborn who died of a ruptured spleen.\u00a0\u201cMeasles was not the cause of death \u2014 the laceration to the spleen is the cause,\u201d reported LancasterOnline. \u201cAnd measles was ruled out as a contributing factor because, Diamantoni said, \u2018there was no swelling or enlargement whatsoever\u2019 of the spleen and there was \u2018massive blood loss\u2019 from the laceration.\u201dShapiro has been criticized by both sides of the aisle for mishandling the situation and further eroding America\u2019s trust in public health. He was asked by a reporter on August 28 for clarity about the case, but he refused to provide additional information.\u00a0 \u00a0The governor\u2019s office did not respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s requests for comment.\u00a0Parsons told The Daily Wire the Shapiro administration needs to be honest with the public.\u201cWe just want the facts and we want the truth about what happened here, and we haven\u2019t gotten that,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cI think the lesson that was learned from COVID is that government and public health officials need to be honest.\u201dThis controversy has unfolded as the Shapiro administration is pushing to radically rewrite the state\u2019s health code and give itself authoritarian police powers, as\u00a0previously reported by The Daily Wire.\u00a0The Democrats\u2019 proposed changes to the state\u2019s health code would give Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Health centralized police powers under the guise of \u201cdisease control measures,\u201d including the ability to enter homes and schools without a warrant, access confidential medical records, and impose statewide school mask mandates for disease prevention. Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf used his unchecked emergency powers to impose some of the harshest COVID restrictions in the nation from March 2020 to June 2021, which were doggedly enforced by Shapiro, who at that time was Pennsylvania\u2019s attorney general.\u00a0Pennsylvanians responded to the COVID mitigation measures by passing a constitutional amendment in May 2021 that limited the governor\u2019s emergency powers to three weeks. The Department of Health reports to the governor\u2019s office, meaning the proposed changes to Pennsylvania\u2019s health code would give Shapiro \u2014 and his successors \u2014 the ability to single-handedly implement draconian policies across the state.The Pennsylvania Department of Health will be able to stop students from receiving an in-person education if they are deemed \u201csusceptible\u201d to a disease, such as measles, and will require healthcare providers to input every delivered vaccination into a statewide database, unless the patient proactively declines in writing.A department spokesman told The Daily Wire the proposed regulations are undergoing a review process and encouraged Pennsylvanians \u201cto review the proposed regulations for themselves and participate in the regulatory process by providing feedback during the extended public comment period.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2810\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blue Route Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-31T23:38:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2810#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2810\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c\"},\"headline\":\"Josh Shapiro Says Vaccination Rates Are Falling Under Trump. His State\u2019s Data Say Otherwise.\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-31T23:38:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2810\"},\"wordCount\":1275,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2810#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/d735b635546fee86904e1fc40acf6199.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Investigation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2810#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2810\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blueroutejournal.com\\\/?p=2810\",\"name\":\"Josh Shapiro Says Vaccination Rates Are Falling Under Trump. 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His State\u2019s Data Say Otherwise. - Blue Route Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2810","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Josh Shapiro Says Vaccination Rates Are Falling Under Trump. His State\u2019s Data Say Otherwise. - Blue Route Journal","og_description":"Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro claims that vaccination rates have fallen under President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Data from his own state tell a different story.The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination rates of Pennsylvania kindergartners dropped nearly 2% during the Biden presidency, according to data the Pennsylvania Department of Health provided to The Daily Wire. The MMR vaccination rates went from 95.5% during the 2020-2021 school year to 93.7% during the 2024-2025 school year, data show. Vaccination rates have consistently decreased since the 2019-2020 height of 96.4%, according to the Health Department.Screenshot of an email sent to The Daily Wire from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen publicly stated the state\u2019s drop in vaccination rates occurred during the Biden administration during an October 2025 press conference at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).\u201cOver the past five years, we\u2019ve seen about a 3% decline in the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rate for children entering kindergarten in Pennsylvania. And we\u2019ve seen similar rates of decline in other vaccines,\u201d Bogen said at the\u00a0press conference where Shapiro signed an executive order promoting vaccination.But neither the facts nor his own administration\u2019s acceptance of them stopped Shapiro from pushing the claim that the Trump administration\u2019s policies were depressing vaccination rates.Shapiro\u2019s order, \u201cProtecting Pennsylvanians\u2019 Health and Freedom by Ensuring Access to Safe and Effective Vaccines,\u201d directs state agencies to follow vaccine advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics instead of the \u201cpolitically-influenced recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.\u201d\u201cI do not want you to be guided by someone like RFK Jr. who I believe is wholly unqualified to give medical advice and who is restricting our freedoms here in Pennsylvania and across this country,\u201d Shapiro stated during the October 2025 press conference. \u201cRFK kicked off 17 highly qualified medical experts off of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices\u2026 including the very competent, the very qualified Charlotte Moser, the co-director of the Vaccine Education Center right here at CHOP.\u201dMoser spoke at the signing alongside the hospital\u2019s CEO, Madeline Bell, who was a member of Shapiro\u2019s transition team. Bell met with President Joe Biden in September 2021 to discuss \u201cthe importance of vaccine mandates\u201d after the hospital\u2019s 22,000 employees were required to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in July 2021, according to the hospital\u2019s website. The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center is directed by Dr. Paul Offit.The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0Shapiro and Bogen announced two \u201cmeasles-associated deaths\u201d had occurred in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on August 25. Shapiro stated the deceased were \u201cunvaccinated\u201d and refused to provide any additional information. The governor laid blame on the Trump administration for the deaths and said he was \u201cvery, very blunt\u201d with Secretary Kennedy on a phone call before the announcement.\u00a0\u201cI made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that\u2019s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America,\u201d Shapiro stated during the press conference. \u201cThere\u2019s real life consequences to spreading misinformation.\u201dKennedy fired back at Shapiro on X, claiming the governor acknowledged during their call that Pennsylvania\u2019s vaccination rates fell during the Biden administration.\u201cGovernor Shapiro also faulted me for the decline in Pennsylvania vaccination rates from 97% \u2013 93.2%. When I pushed back on this assertion, he acknowledged that most of the decline occurred during the Biden administration,\u201d Kennedy wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunately true that the government lockdowns, deceptions, manipulation, and overreach during Covid severely damaged public faith in the vaccine program. Governor Shapiro\u2019s press conference was an example of the same species of gaslighting.\u201d\u00a0Lancaster County Commissioner Joshua Parsons directly challenged Shapiro\u2019s narrative and claimed the county coroner had no record of any deaths caused by measles hours after the announcement in an X post.\u00a0\u201cThe Coroner\u2019s office indicates that it currently has ZERO reported cases where measles is the immediate cause of death,\u201d Parsons wrote on August 25. \u201cThey have one case where a person died WITH measles, but not FROM measles. Measles was definitely NOT the cause of death in that case.\u201dThe Pennsylvania Department of Health posted a statement on August 26 suggesting a \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d death meant the deceased person had laboratory evidence of measles without it being assessed as \u201cthe immediate cause of death.\u201d\u00a0\u201cPA DOH uses the term \u2018measles-associated\u2019 when laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present, but the disease may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death,\u201d the department said in the statement.\u00a0Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni confirmed to\u00a0LancasterOnline on August 27 that one of the announced \u201cmeasles-associated\u201d deaths was a newborn who died of a ruptured spleen.\u00a0\u201cMeasles was not the cause of death \u2014 the laceration to the spleen is the cause,\u201d reported LancasterOnline. \u201cAnd measles was ruled out as a contributing factor because, Diamantoni said, \u2018there was no swelling or enlargement whatsoever\u2019 of the spleen and there was \u2018massive blood loss\u2019 from the laceration.\u201dShapiro has been criticized by both sides of the aisle for mishandling the situation and further eroding America\u2019s trust in public health. He was asked by a reporter on August 28 for clarity about the case, but he refused to provide additional information.\u00a0 \u00a0The governor\u2019s office did not respond to The Daily Wire\u2019s requests for comment.\u00a0Parsons told The Daily Wire the Shapiro administration needs to be honest with the public.\u201cWe just want the facts and we want the truth about what happened here, and we haven\u2019t gotten that,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cI think the lesson that was learned from COVID is that government and public health officials need to be honest.\u201dThis controversy has unfolded as the Shapiro administration is pushing to radically rewrite the state\u2019s health code and give itself authoritarian police powers, as\u00a0previously reported by The Daily Wire.\u00a0The Democrats\u2019 proposed changes to the state\u2019s health code would give Pennsylvania\u2019s Department of Health centralized police powers under the guise of \u201cdisease control measures,\u201d including the ability to enter homes and schools without a warrant, access confidential medical records, and impose statewide school mask mandates for disease prevention. Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf used his unchecked emergency powers to impose some of the harshest COVID restrictions in the nation from March 2020 to June 2021, which were doggedly enforced by Shapiro, who at that time was Pennsylvania\u2019s attorney general.\u00a0Pennsylvanians responded to the COVID mitigation measures by passing a constitutional amendment in May 2021 that limited the governor\u2019s emergency powers to three weeks. The Department of Health reports to the governor\u2019s office, meaning the proposed changes to Pennsylvania\u2019s health code would give Shapiro \u2014 and his successors \u2014 the ability to single-handedly implement draconian policies across the state.The Pennsylvania Department of Health will be able to stop students from receiving an in-person education if they are deemed \u201csusceptible\u201d to a disease, such as measles, and will require healthcare providers to input every delivered vaccination into a statewide database, unless the patient proactively declines in writing.A department spokesman told The Daily Wire the proposed regulations are undergoing a review process and encouraged Pennsylvanians \u201cto review the proposed regulations for themselves and participate in the regulatory process by providing feedback during the extended public comment period.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2810","og_site_name":"Blue Route Journal","article_published_time":"2026-08-31T23:38:32+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2810#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/?p=2810"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/blueroutejournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19da116f8d79cf8987781569801c6b7c"},"headline":"Josh Shapiro Says Vaccination Rates Are Falling Under Trump. 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