More Plain community members in Lancaster County are accepting the MMR vaccine as state cases pass 1,390, though some families still decline.
Tamrah News Desk | October 30, 2026
The Pennsylvania measles outbreak, the worst in the United States in 35 years, is leading more Amish and Mennonite families in Lancaster County to accept the MMR vaccine in Pennsylvania, according to the Associated Press. The Pennsylvania Department of Health has confirmed 1,398 cases across 44 counties this year, WOLF reported on October 28, an increase of 38 since Monday. The AP said rates have fallen from a September peak, but some doctors expect a rise as winter brings more indoor gatherings.
Is the Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak Still Growing?
According to WOLF, Lancaster County has 487 cases, Mifflin County has 198 and Chester County has 93. LNP reported that Lancaster County ranks second in the country for measles cases this year, behind Spartanburg, South Carolina, based on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tracker.
The AP reported five measles associated deaths in the state, three of them in Lancaster County. WOLF added that the Franklin County coroner has reported a sixth possible death, which state officials are still reviewing. ABC News reported earlier this month that CDC data showed more than 3,800 measles cases nationwide, the highest total since 1991. WOLF said fewer than 1% of Pennsylvania cases involve fully vaccinated people.
Why Are Amish Communities Showing Openness to Vaccines?
The AP reported that the Amish measles outbreak has changed minds in some Plain communities, where vaccination has long been less common. Union Community Care has held small clinics for Plain families that produced about 450 measles shots. It also offers infant doses earlier than the usual schedule, as health experts advise during outbreaks.
One Plain farmer told the AP he got vaccinated after his adult siblings caught measles. Lancaster County Commissioner Alice Yoder recalled lines of Plain residents seeking shots during the 1991 outbreak. Dr. D. Holmes Morton, who founded the Central Pennsylvania Clinic, told the AP,
“We are having more success at having vaccine days.”
Where Vaccine Hesitancy Remains
Not every family has changed course. The AP reported that Amish farmer Ephraim Zook still opposes vaccines even after nursing his young twins through measles. Community leaders told the AP that most families who skip shots do so out of habit and culture rather than ideology, and that attitudes cooled after strict pandemic health rules.
Steve Nolt of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies said Amish theology does not address immunization, the AP reported. A 2022 Franklin & Marshall College survey found most Mennonite families vaccinated their children, compared with about 3 in 10 Amish families. The AP also reported that a group of Amish schools in New York has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to require religious exemptions there.
How Low Are Measles Vaccination Rates?
The AP reported that 92.4% of U.S. kindergartners received required MMR shots in 2025 to 26, according to the CDC, down from 95.2% in 2019 to 20. Pennsylvania’s kindergarten rate fell to 93.2% last year, and the AP’s review of state data put Lancaster County at 88%. Experts consider an outbreak unlikely when a community reaches 95%.
Berwood Yost of Franklin & Marshall College wrote that kindergarten rates have dropped in every central Pennsylvania county since 2020 and urged the public not to blame the Amish, the AP said. The 19th reported that more than half of Pennsylvania counties sit below the 95% threshold.
Who Faces the Highest Risk From Lancaster County Measles?
LNP reported that children up to age 4 account for 170 Lancaster County cases and have the highest hospitalization rate at 35%. The 19th reported that 53 of 977 statewide cases were among pregnant women and that two infants died in Lancaster County. ABC News reported that at least 198 people had been hospitalized statewide as of October 5.
Political Debate Over the Response
The AP reported that U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently sparred with Governor Josh Shapiro over the extent of the outbreak. Further controversy followed when the county coroner attributed an infected infant’s death to a ruptured spleen rather than measles. Yoder told the AP that officials should unite behind the message that the vaccine is safe and effective..
Conclusion
The Pennsylvania measles outbreak continues as measles vaccination rates stay under the 95% level experts cite. Lancaster County measles cases keep the Amish measles outbreak in national focus, while the MMR vaccine in Pennsylvania remains the main protection health officials point to. Readers searching for measles cases Pennsylvania 2026 can check the state health department for current counts.
