The second Texas child died of measles in the growing pandemic, which has infected hundreds of people, the majority of Texas’ unvaccinated communities, according to the state health department.
“A school-age child who tested positive for measles was hospitalized in Lubbock and died on Thursday from what he described as measles lung failure,” the statement said. “The child was not vaccinated and no underlying conditions were reported.”
The University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas said the child was in care for “measles complications while hospitalized,” emphasising that the child was not vaccinated without fundamental conditions, as the state health department did.
Measles signs can be seen on February 25, 2025 at Texas Institute of Technology’s University Health Science Center in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, file)
Giulio Cortez/AP
In late February, school-age children who had not been vaccinated also died of measles in Texas, according to the Texas Department of Health. A week later, an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico died of measles, the New Mexico Department of Health reported.
Nationally, there are 642 confirmed cases in 22 states, with the majority (499) of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy, published on X on Sunday afternoon.
Kennedy visited Texas on Sunday to attend the funeral of his deceased child and “comfort” the family, he said in the post. He said he developed close ties with affected communities, including the family of his first child who died in the outbreak.
He added that “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles” is measles, mumps, levelera, or MMR-vaccines.
On April 6, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Department of Health and Human Services, on the right, arrives at Rainlander Mennonite Church in Seminole, Texas, after his second measles death in the state.
Annie Rice/AP
The HHS secretary, who has a long history of vaccine skepticism, fired fire from public health officials because he downplayed the outbreak of measles and did not make sufficient claims for widespread vaccination. In Kennedy’s first public comment on the measles outbreak last month, he said that because it occurs every year, the outbreak is not “unusual” and did not mention or encourage the vaccine.
Public health experts who criticized Kennedy noted that outbreaks do not have to occur every year and that they can be prevented with the MMR vaccine. Kennedy has since said that the vaccine is the “most effective way” to prevent measles, but he often gains his support by encouraging alternative treatments and noting that it is a “personal choice.”
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said he had publicly struggled with support for Kennedy but ultimately voted to support him as HHS secretary, but said his second death in Texas proved that “top health officials” should “explicitly” encourage vaccines.
“Everyone should get vaccinated!” Cassidy wrote on X Sunday. “There is no measles treatment. There is no benefit in getting measles. The best health authorities should say very clearly (before) before another child dies.”
However, Kennedy was posted again late Sunday night shortly after comments encouraging the vaccine, celebrating two doctors who have advanced anti-vaccine rhetoric this time and promoted two medications that are regularly not recommended for treating measles.
“I also visited with these two extraordinary healers, Dr. Richard Bartlett and Dr. Ben Edwards, who treated and healed about 300 measles-attacked Mennonite children using aerosolized budesonide and clarithromycin,” he writes about X. Kennedy did not mention the MMR vaccine, its safety or efficacy.
Many public health experts have described these two treatments (inhaled steroids and antibiotics) as appropriate treatments for several illnesses, but there are no specific or proven benefits of measles treatment. While doctors may use drugs as part of their overall supportive care or to address certain complications of measles, health officials have warned that these treatments are not all treatments and are not alternatives to the MMR vaccine.
In its guidance on its website, the CDC said, “There is no specific antiviral therapy for measles. It supports medical care, helps to alleviate symptoms and address complications such as bacterial infections.”
The Texas Department of State Health Department said on April 4 that Texas is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 30 years.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first quarter of this year saw more than double the cases of measles in the first quarter of this year than in the entire last year.
These are the most measles cases in the United States since 2019, with 1,274 cases, according to the CDC. New Mexico has experienced the worst measles outbreak for the first time in 40 years, with 54 cases. Kansas and Ohio have also experienced an outbreak.
If the number of lawsuits this year continues to rise at current rates, the US is likely to exceed 2019, leading to the most lawsuits in the US since 1992.
The US declared that measles had been eliminated in 2000 after discovering that there was no continuous spread of highly contagious diseases for 12 months. If the outbreak lasts for more than a year, the country risks losing its position. The Texas outbreak saw the first measles incident in January, and experts say it could take months to contain the spread.
The CDC now recommends that people receive two MMR vaccines. This recommends receiving a second MMR vaccine between the ages of 4 and 6 for 12-15 months. One dose is 93% effective, while two doses are 97% effective against measles.
Kennedy said in a statement Sunday that the CDC team will be deployed in Texas in early March to support state and local health officials, including providing MMR vaccines to pharmacies and clinics. Another CDC team will be rolled out again, he said Sunday.
“I spoke with Governor Abbott and provided continued support for HHS. On his request, I relocated the CDC team to Texas. I will continue to follow the Texas lead and provide similar resources to other affected jurisdictions,” he said in the post.
Kennedy’s visit to Texas comes shortly after the secretary announces a cut to a quarter of the HHS workforce, including a fifth employed at the CDC.
The HHS recently curtailed about $11 billion in funding from state and local health departments, saying that money was no longer needed because the pandemic ended. However, health officials said the money is being used to better equip the community to deal with spreading diseases, including measles, and to prepare for the next pandemic.
In Lubbock, the heart of the outbreak, some public health workers have been ordered to suspend grant support to help fund responses, a spokesman for the city’s director of public health, Katherine Wells.
Dr. Philip Fan, the city of Dallas’s chief health official, told ABC News that HHS funding and cutting workforce cuts could also affect efforts to respond to the statewide outbreak of measles.
“This definitely affects our measles response,” he said. “We were trying to build capacity for our labs, which is part of our ability to vaccinate communities and schools.”
“These small health departments, they don’t have a lot of staff. You make small cuts and it takes away a significant percentage of their workforce and their ability to deal with anything,” Huang said.
Benjamin Siegel of ABC News contributed to this report.
