U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., has joined more than 30 colleagues in a letter demanding answers from the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the agency's response to President Donald Trump's childhood vaccine Executive Order, the reporting of measles-associated deaths and delays in vaccine access.

According to a news release from Duckworth's office, the letter was led by Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Rep. Kim Schrier, M.D., D-Wash., and addressed to CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz. The lawmakers said the United States is experiencing its largest measles outbreak in 35 years.

The release said Trump issued an Executive Order the lawmakers describe as aimed at dismantling core immunization guidelines, and that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a Request for Information to lay the groundwork for restructuring the routine childhood immunization schedule. The lawmakers also raised concerns about reports that the CDC excluded verified state-reported measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania from its public mortality count, and that the agency delayed access to fall respiratory virus vaccines through the Vaccines for Children program.

"The health of American children and families depends on a CDC Director who is willing to follow the science, even when it may be politically inconvenient," the lawmakers wrote, according to the release. "We look forward to your response and to seeing whether the CDC under your leadership honors the commitments you made at your confirmation hearing."

The concerns raised

The release said the CDC recently reported that 280,000 kindergartners did not complete their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine series. The lawmakers said the Executive Order calls for breaking up combination shots like MMR into single-disease shots that are not available in the United States, cutting the number of diseases every child is recommended to be protected against from 18 to 11, and directing the Attorney General to advance legal challenges to state laws.

The lawmakers noted the HHS Request for Information on the childhood immunization schedule is aimed at bypassing the CDC and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which have developed recommendations for more than 60 years. They described the efforts as part of attacks spearheaded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and said CDC scientists, not political appointees, should be at the center of decisions about the immunization schedule.

On the Pennsylvania deaths, the letter said four measles-associated deaths verified and reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health were excluded from the CDC's public national mortality count for weeks, even as internal CDC systems continued to track the fatalities. The lawmakers said that as of the letter's date, the CDC had included only two of the measles-associated deaths reported by Pennsylvania.

The lawmakers requested written responses by Oct. 16, 2026 to a series of questions covering the CDC's role in the Executive Order, its data collection and reporting practices, and the timeline of decisions on the Vaccines for Children program, including why COVID vaccine ordering through the program opened Sept. 24, 2026, and not earlier.

Who signed

The release said that in addition to Duckworth and Bennet, the letter was co-signed in the Senate by Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md.; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.; Andy Kim, D-N.J.; Angus King, I-Maine; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

Along with Schrier, House signers included Nanette Barragán, D-Calif.; Troy Carter, D-La.; Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y.; Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.; Chris Deluzio, D-Pa.; Maxine Dexter, D-Ore.; Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.; Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill.; Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.; Mike Levin, D-Calif.; Doris Matsui, D-Calif.; Betty McCollum, D-Minn.; Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y.; Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.; Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo.; Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M.; Mark Takano, D-Calif.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Paul Tonko, D-N.Y.; and Lori Trahan, D-Mass.

The release said the full text of the letter is available on Senator Duckworth's website.

Source: the original release