U.S. Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the epicenter of Texas’ still-growing measles outbreak on Sunday, the identical day a funeral was held for a second younger baby who was not vaccinated and died from a measles-related sickness.
Kennedy stated in a social media submit that he was working to “management the outbreak” and went to Gaines County to consolation the households who’ve buried two younger kids. He was seen late Sunday afternoon outdoors of a Mennonite church the place the funeral companies had been held, however he didn’t attend a close-by information convention held by the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention concerning the outbreak.
Seminole is the epicenter of the outbreak, which began in late January and continues to swell — with almost 500 circumstances in Texas alone, plus circumstances from the outbreak believed to have unfold to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mexico.
The second younger baby died Thursday from “what the kid’s physician described as measles pulmonary failure,” and didn’t have underlying well being circumstances, the Texas State Division of State Well being Providers stated Sunday in a information launch. Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Well being System in Lubbock, stated that the kid was “receiving therapy for problems of measles whereas hospitalized.”
Learn Extra: What to Know Concerning the Measles Vaccine
That is the third identified measles-related demise tied to this outbreak. One was one other elementary school-aged baby in Texas and the opposite was an grownup in New Mexico; neither had been vaccinated.
It is Kennedy’s first go to to the realm as well being secretary, the place he stated he met with households of each the 6- and 8-year-old kids who died. He stated he “developed bonds” with the Mennonite group in West Texas through which the virus is generally spreading.
Kennedy, an anti-vaccine advocate earlier than ascending to the function of nation’s prime well being secretary earlier this yr, has resisted urging widespread vaccinations because the measles outbreak has worsened below his watch. On Sunday, nonetheless, he stated in a prolonged assertion posted on X that it was “the best strategy to forestall the unfold of measles.”
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for greater than 60 years and is 97% efficient in opposition to measles after two doses.
Dr. Manisha Patel, CDC incident supervisor, stated in a Sunday information convention that the MMR vaccine is one of the simplest ways to guard in opposition to measles. She additionally informed mother and father in Gaines County that it was necessary to not “delay care” for a kid who’s sick with measles.
“Name your physician and ensure you’re speaking to a well being care skilled who can information you on these subsequent steps,” Patel stated.
Kennedy’s social media submit stated CDC workers had been “redeployed.” CDC spokesman Jason McDonald clarified late Sunday that the primary CDC crew arrived in early March and left Gaines County on April 1, whereas a crew led by Patel “was redeployed and arrived at the moment to evaluate wants” as ordered by Kennedy and requested by Texas’ governor.
Requested concerning the outbreak Sunday by reporters on Air Power One, Trump stated, “they’re doing reviews on it,” including that if the outbreak “progresses, we’ll must take motion very strongly.”
Neither the CDC nor the state well being division included the demise of their measles reviews issued Friday, however the CDC acknowledged it when requested Sunday.
The variety of circumstances in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 extra individuals had been hospitalized. Nationwide, the U.S. has greater than double the variety of measles circumstances it noticed in all of 2024.
Republican U.S. Sen. Invoice Cassidy from Louisiana, a liver physician whose vote helped cinch Kennedy’s affirmation, referred to as Sunday for stronger messaging from well being officers in a submit on X.
“Everybody needs to be vaccinated! There isn’t a therapy for measles. No profit to getting measles,” he wrote. “High well being officers ought to say so unequivocally b/4 one other baby dies.”
Cassidy has requested Kennedy to seem earlier than his well being committee Thursday, though Kennedy has not publicly confirmed whether or not he’ll attend.
A CDC spokesperson famous the efficacy of the measles vaccine Sunday however stopped wanting calling on individuals to get it. Departing from long-standing public well being messaging round vaccination, the spokesperson referred to as the choice a “private one” and inspired individuals to speak with their physician. Folks “needs to be knowledgeable concerning the potential dangers and advantages related to vaccines,” the spokesperson added.
Misinformation about how one can forestall and deal with measles is hindering a sturdy public well being response, together with claims about vitamin A dietary supplements which have been pushed by Kennedy and holistic drugs supporters regardless of docs’ warnings that it needs to be given below a doctor’s orders and that an excessive amount of could be harmful.
Medical doctors at Covenant Kids’s Hospital in Lubbock, the place the primary measles demise occurred, say they’ve handled fewer than 10 kids for liver points from vitamin A toxicity, which they discovered when working routine lab exams on kids who will not be absolutely vaccinated and have measles. Dr. Lara Johnson, chief medical officer, stated the sufferers reported utilizing vitamin A to deal with and forestall the virus.
Dr. Peter Marks, the Meals and Drug Administration’s former vaccine chief, stated accountability for the demise rests with Kennedy and his workers. Marks was pressured out of the FDA after disagreements with Kennedy over vaccine security.
“That is the epitome of an absolute pointless demise,” Marks informed The Related Press in an interview Sunday. “These children ought to get vaccinated — that’s the way you forestall individuals from dying of measles.”
Marks additionally stated he lately warned U.S. senators that extra deaths would happen if the administration didn’t mount a extra aggressive response to the outbreak.
Specialists and native well being officers anticipate the outbreak to go on for a number of extra months if not a yr. In West Texas, the overwhelming majority of circumstances are in unvaccinated individuals and kids youthful than 17.
With a number of states going through outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illness — and declining childhood vaccination charges nationwide — some fear that measles could value the U.S. its standing as having eradicated the illness.
Measles is a respiratory virus that may survive within the air for as much as two hours. As much as 9 out of 10 people who find themselves vulnerable will get the virus if uncovered, in line with the CDC. The primary shot is advisable for kids ages 12 to fifteen months, and the second for ages 4 to six years.
—Seitz reported from Washington. Photojournalist Annie Rice in Seminole, Texas, and AP reporter Matthew Perrone in Washington contributed to this report.
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