U.S. Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. travelled to West Texas on Sunday after a second unvaccinated school-aged youngster died from a measles-related sickness.
Forward of a “Make America Wholesome Once more” tour throughout the southwestern United States, Kennedy mentioned in a social media publish that he was in Gaines County to consolation households who needed to bury two younger youngsters who’ve died. Seminole, Texas, is the epicentre of a measles outbreak that began in late January and continues to swell, with almost 500 circumstances within the state alone.
He mentioned he was additionally working with Texas well being officers to “management the measles outbreak.”
The kid, who didn’t have underlying well being circumstances, died on Thursday from “what the kid’s docs described as measles pulmonary failure,” the Texas Division of State Well being Companies mentioned on Sunday in a information launch. Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Well being System in Lubbock, Texas, mentioned that the kid was “receiving therapy for issues of measles whereas hospitalized.”
That is the third identified measles-related dying tied to this outbreak. One was one other school-aged youngster in Texas and the opposite was an grownup in New Mexico. Neither had been vaccinated.
As disinformation about vaccines continues to unfold, a virologist and a pediatrician share the significance of getting vaccines to forestall the unfold of dangerous ailments like polio and measles.
Kennedy, an anti-vaccine advocate earlier than ascending to the function of the nation’s well being secretary earlier this yr, has resisted urging widespread vaccinations because the measles outbreak has worsened beneath his watch.
“The best solution to stop the unfold of measles is the MMR vaccine,” Kennedy mentioned in a prolonged assertion posted on social media. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for greater than 60 years and is 97 per cent efficient in opposition to measles after two doses.
Groups from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention have been “re-deployed,” Kennedy mentioned, though the nation’s public well being company by no means relayed it had pulled again through the rising disaster. Neither the CDC nor the state well being division included the dying of their measles studies issued on Friday however added it to their counts on Sunday.
Nationwide, the U.S. has greater than double the variety of measles circumstances it noticed in all of 2024.
Greater than two months in, the West Texas outbreak is believed to have unfold to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas, sickening almost 570 individuals. The World Well being Group additionally reported circumstances associated to Texas in Mexico.
The variety of circumstances in Texas shot up by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 extra individuals had been hospitalized.
‘Everybody must be vaccinated’
U.S. Republican Sen. Invoice Cassidy from Louisiana, a liver physician whose vote helped cinch Kennedy’s affirmation, referred to as on Sunday for stronger messaging from well being officers in a publish on social media.
“Everybody must 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 youngster dies.”
A CDC spokesperson famous the efficacy of the measles vaccine on 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 mentioned individuals ought to speak to their physician and “must be knowledgeable concerning the potential dangers and advantages related to vaccines.”
Misinformation about the best way to stop and deal with measles is hindering a strong public well being response, together with claims about vitamin A dietary supplements which were pushed by Kennedy and holistic medication supporters regardless of docs’ warnings that it must be given beneath a doctor’s orders and that an excessive amount of will be harmful.
‘Pointless dying’
Docs at Covenant Kids’s Hospital in Lubbock, the place the primary measles dying occurred, say they’ve handled fewer than 10 youngsters for liver points from vitamin A toxicity, which they discovered when working routine lab assessments on undervaccinated youngsters who’ve measles. Dr. Lara Johnson, chief medical officer, mentioned the sufferers reported utilizing vitamin A to deal with and stop the virus.
Dr. Peter Marks, the previous vaccine chief with the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration, mentioned accountability for the dying rests with Kennedy and his employees. Marks was pressured out of the FDA after disagreements with Kennedy over vaccine security.
“That is the epitome of an absolute useless dying,” Marks instructed The Related Press in an interview on Sunday. “These children ought to get vaccinated — that is the way you stop individuals from dying of measles.”
Canada formally eradicated measles in 1998, however latest outbreaks of the extremely contagious virus in locations resembling southwestern Ontario have public well being officers urging individuals to get vaccinated.
Marks additionally mentioned he not too long ago warned U.S. senators that extra deaths would happen if the administration did not mount a extra aggressive response to the outbreak. Kennedy has been referred to as to testify earlier than the Senate well being committee on Thursday.
Specialists and native well being officers count on 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 youngsters youthful than 17.
With a number of states dealing with outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illness — and declining childhood vaccination charges nationwide — some fear that measles might price 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 keeping with the CDC. The primary shot is beneficial for youngsters aged 12 to fifteen months, and the second for these aged 4 to 6 years.
