Judge Clay Jenkins also discussed the federal response to the outbreak.
Dallas County, Texas – Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has extensive experience dealing with public health outbreaks, from the 2014 Ebola horrors to Covid from 2020.
Regarding the current outbreak of measles in Texas, Judge Jenkins said he has been in regular contact with his counterparts throughout the state and works every day in Dallas County to avoid an outbreak every day.
“We encourage people to get vaccinated because this vaccine has been around for longer than I was alive. And it’s a safe vaccine. It’s very effective and 97% effective. Judge Jenkins told us about Texas politics.
Judge Jenkins said their main focus is on schools with low vaccination rates. The county offers to maintain vaccination clinics on some of these campuses.
Or parents said they could take their children to a pediatrician or visit the Dallas County Health and Welfare Corps.
Currently, Texas has 259 confirmed cases of measles, the most common in over 30 years.
And at least one unvaccinated child died.
Dallas County has not reported cases amid the outbreak.
With all federal cuts and funding freezes, we asked Judge Jenkins how confident he would receive help from the federal government.
“The people at the CDC, who work with Texas, do a good job, just like the states in the state health department in Texas. If a cut occurs, it will undermine our ability to respond,” he said.
