Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., proper, arrives at Reinlander Mennonite Church after a second measles dying of a kid, on Sunday in Seminole, Texas.
Annie Rice/AP
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Annie Rice/AP
U.S. Well being and Human Companies 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 little one 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 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 little one 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 Companies stated Sunday in a news release. Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Well being System in Lubbock, stated that the kid was “receiving therapy for problems of measles whereas hospitalized.”
That is the third recognized measles-related dying tied to this outbreak. One was one other elementary school-aged child in Texas and the opposite was an adult in New Mexico; neither had been vaccinated.
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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 wherein 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 beneath his watch. On Sunday, nevertheless, he stated in a prolonged assertion posted on X that it was “the simplest approach 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 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 informed 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 ensure 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 submit famous that CDC workers 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 dying of their measles experiences 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 folks 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 post on X.
“Everybody ought to be vaccinated! There is no such thing as a therapy for measles. No profit to getting measles,” he wrote. “High well being officers ought to say so unequivocally b/4 one other little one 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 folks 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 folks to speak with their physician. Folks “ought to be knowledgeable in regards to the potential dangers and advantages related to vaccines,” the spokesperson added.
Misinformation about tips on how to forestall and deal with measles is hindering a strong 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 ought to be given beneath a doctor’s orders and that an excessive amount of may be harmful.
Medical doctors 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 operating routine lab exams on youngsters who usually are not 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 dying rests with Kennedy and his employees. Marks was compelled out of the FDA after disagreements with Kennedy over vaccine security.
“That is the epitome of an absolute pointless dying,” Marks informed The Related Press in an interview Sunday. “These youngsters ought to get vaccinated — that is the way you forestall folks from dying of measles.”
Marks additionally stated 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.
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 folks 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 might 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, according to the CDC. The primary shot is beneficial for kids ages 12 to fifteen months, and the second for ages 4 to six years.
