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 youngster who was not vaccinated and died from a measles-related sickness.
Kennedy stated in a social media publish that he was working to “management the outbreak” and went to Gaines County to consolation the households who’ve buried two younger youngsters. 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 in regards to 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 youngster died Thursday from “what the kid’s physician described as measles pulmonary failure,” and didn’t have underlying well being situations, 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 remedy for issues of measles whereas hospitalized.”
Learn Extra: What to Know Concerning the Measles Vaccine
That is the third recognized measles-related demise tied to this outbreak. One was one other elementary school-aged youngster in Texas and the opposite was an grownup in New Mexico; neither had been vaccinated.
It is Kennedy’s first go to to the world as well being secretary, the place he stated he met with households of each the 6- and 8-year-old youngsters who died. He stated he “developed bonds” with the Mennonite group in West Texas through which the virus is usually spreading.
Kennedy, an anti-vaccine advocate earlier than ascending to the function of nation’s high well being secretary earlier this yr, has resisted urging widespread vaccinations because the measles outbreak has worsened underneath his watch. On Sunday, nevertheless, he stated in a prolonged assertion posted on X that it was “the simplest strategy to stop the unfold of measles.”
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for greater than 60 years and is 97% efficient towards 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 towards measles. She additionally instructed mother and father in Gaines County that it was vital to not “delay care” for a kid who’s sick with measles.
“Name your physician and be sure you’re speaking to a well being care skilled who can information you on these subsequent steps,” Patel stated.
CDC groups arrived in early March, Patel stated. However Kennedy’s social media publish famous that CDC staff have been “redeployed,” and the nation’s public well being company by no means relayed it had pulled again. Neither the CDC nor the state well being division included the demise of their measles studies 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 publish on X.
“Everybody needs to be vaccinated! There isn’t any remedy for measles. No profit to getting measles,” he wrote. “High well being officers ought to say so unequivocally b/4 one other youngster dies.”
Cassidy has requested Kennedy to look 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 in need of 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 in regards to the potential dangers and advantages related to vaccines,” the spokesperson added.
Misinformation about learn how 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 drugs supporters regardless of medical doctors’ warnings that it needs to be given underneath a doctor’s orders and that an excessive amount of will be harmful.
Docs at Covenant Kids’s Hospital in Lubbock, the place the primary measles demise 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 youngsters 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 stop 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 instructed The Related Press in an interview Sunday. “These children ought to get vaccinated — that’s the way you stop 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.
Consultants 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 youngsters 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 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 response to the CDC. The primary shot is really useful for youngsters 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.
