US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the epicenter of Texas’ still-growing measles outbreak on Sunday.
Read more: Second child dies from measles-related causes in western Texas, case approaching 500
Kennedy said in a social media post that he was working to “control the outbreak” and went to Gaines County to comfort the family who buried two young children. He was seen late Sunday afternoon outside Mennonite Church, where the funeral was held, but he did not attend a nearby press conference held by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the outbreak.
The Seminole is the epicenter of an outbreak that has started and continues to swell in late January, with lawsuits from nearly 500 cases in Texas alone and outbreaks believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mexico.
The second young child died Thursday of what the child doctor described as a lung disorder in measles and was not in fundamental health, the Texas Department of Health said in a news release on Sunday. Aaron Davis, a spokesman for UMC Health System in Lubbock, said the child was “treated for measles complications while in hospital.”
This is the third most known measles-related death that has been linked to this outbreak. One was a student elementary school in Texas, and the other was an adult from New Mexico. Neither of them were vaccinated.
It said Kennedy first visited the area as health secretary, where he met with the families of both the six- and eight-year-olds who died. He said he “fostered a bond” with the Mennonite community in West Texas, where the virus is mostly spreading.
Kennedy was an anti-vaccine advocate before taking on the role of the nation’s top health secretary earlier this year, resisting urging widespread vaccinations as the outbreak of measles worsened under his watch. However, on Sunday, he said in a lengthy statement posted to X that it was “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.”
Measles, mumps and rubella vaccines have been safely used for over 60 years and are 97% effective against measles after two doses.
CDC Incident Manager Dr Manisha Patel said at a press conference on Sunday that MMR vaccines are the best way to protect against measles. She also told parents in Gaines County that it is important to “not delay care” for children who are sick with measles.
“Call your doctor and make sure you’re talking to a medical professional who can guide you in the next step,” Patel said.
Patel said the CDC team arrived in early March. However, Kennedy’s social media post said that CDC employees had been “relocated” and that the national public health agencies never pulled back. Neither the CDC nor the state health department included deaths in the measles report issued Friday, but the CDC admitted it when asked on Sunday.
The number of cases in Texas rose 81 between March 28th and April 4th, with another 16 people hospitalised. Nationally, the US has more than twice the measles cases we saw in all 2024.
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy and liver doctor, Sen. Bill Cassidy, called Sunday for a stronger messaging from health officials at the X post.
“Everyone should get vaccinated! There is no measles treatment. There is no benefit in getting measles,” he wrote. “The best health authorities should say they should be clear enough to make another child die.”
Cassidy requested Kennedy to appear before the Health Committee on Thursday, but Kennedy has not publicly confirmed whether he will be present.
A CDC spokesman looked at the effectiveness of the measles vaccine on Sunday, but stopped calling on people to get it. Starting from a long-standing public health message on vaccinations, the spokesman called the decision “personal” and encouraged people to talk to doctors. People should be “informed about the potential risks and benefits associated with vaccines,” the spokesman added.
Misinformation about how to prevent and treat measles is a hampering robust public health response, including claims about vitamin A supplements pushed by Kennedy and advocates of holistic medicine, despite doctors’ warnings that it can put too much at risk, given under doctor’s orders.
Doctors at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, where the first measles death occurred, say they treated less than 10 children with liver problems caused by vitamin A toxicity. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lala Johnson said he reported that patients were using vitamin A to treat and prevent the virus.
Dr. Peter Marks, former Food and Drug Administration vaccine director, said the death lies with Kennedy and his staff. After disagreement with Kennedy about vaccine safety, Mark was kicked out of the FDA.
“This is an absolutely unnecessary epitome of death,” Marks told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday. “These children should be vaccinated, and that’s how they prevent people from dying from measles.”
Marks also said he recently warned US senators that if the administration did not respond more positively to the outbreak, more deaths would occur.
Experts and local health officials expect it to happen for several more months, if not a year. In West Texas, the majority of cases are in unvaccinated people and children under the age of 17.
There are concerns that several states are facing an outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases, with declining childhood vaccination rates across the country — measles could potentially sacrifice the status of eliminating the disease in the United States.
Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to 2 hours. According to the CDC, nine in 10 susceptible people will ingest the virus when exposed. The first shot is recommended for children aged 12-15 months and for children aged 4-6 years for the second.
Seits reported from Washington. Photojournalist Annie Rice from Seminole, Texas, and Associated Press Reporter Matthew Perrone from Washington contributed to the report.
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