Peter Hildebrand, who passed away in early April after her 8-year-old daughter Daisy tested positive for measles, said she had no regrets about rejecting the MMR vaccine.
“It’s definitely not,” Hildebrand said when asked if he or his wife regretted not giving Daisy a vaccine. “And from here on, if there are other kids in the future, they’re not going to get vaccinated at all.”
Comments were made in an interview published by Children’s Health Defense (CHD), a nonprofit organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a focus on childhood health epidemics but well known for its anti-vaccination position.
AP
Why is it important?
The Daisy Hildebrand case has been the focus of debate on US vaccination policies, particularly as he has been working on the most severe measles outbreak for over a decade. More than 480 cases and 56 hospitalizations have been reported in Texas alone since January, according to the state health department.
Amid the public health crisis, Kennedy, who is now the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, expressed his gratitude to the apologies of Dol by visiting the Hildebrand family in Seminole, Texas.
Kennedy wrote on his previous Twitter X that he “consolidates your family and stays with the community in moments of sadness,” emphasizing that the MMR vaccine is “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.”
After losing my 8-year-old daughter Daisy, I came to Gaines County, Texas today. After she passed away in February, I got to know the family of six-year-old Kaylee Fahle. I have also built a bond and deep affection with other members…
– Secretary Kennedy (@seckennedy) April 6, 2025
What do you know
Hildebrand described Daisy as a playful and kind child. “As I said before, she was always happy and always playing. She and Jordan were always playing outside,” he said. “She always cared about the other kids too. Do you know? It’s going to be hard to move forward, I certainly know that, but I think that’s the only option we’ve got.”
Daisy was the second child to die during an ongoing measles outbreak in Texas, according to the Texas Department of Health. The unvaccinated 6-year-old girl from the Mennonite community in Seminole, Texas, was her first measles death for over a decade when she died in February of pneumonia complications caused by measles.
A spokesman for Children’s Hospital, University Medical Center, Lubbock, where Daisy was treated, confirmed that she had not been vaccinated and had no knowledge of her underlying health condition.
Doctors said she died of “measles lung failure,” the Texas Department of Health said in an April 6 update.
However, CHD-TV’s programming director, Polly Tommay, who interviewed Hildebrand, denied that Daisy or her first child had died of measles, calling for a report on the “fear.”
She repeatedly claimed that the MMR vaccine caused autism and “killing these children in these hospitals” without providing specific evidence.
“Medical error, whatever you want to call it,” she said, “These kids are given terrible treatments killing them.”
Newsweek has contacted CHD by email to request evidence of Tommey’s claim and comment.
The contracted children’s hospital where the first child was treated, did not comment on Tommy’s latest remarks, but shared a March 20th statement with Newsweek, originally released after CHD interviewed the parents of her first child. Evidence-based protocols make clinical decisions based on the patient’s evolving condition, diagnostic findings, and the best available medical knowledge. ”
Newsweek also reached the University Medical Center for further comment.
On March 2, Kennedy issued the OP-ED for Fox News, where providers, community leaders and policymakers should make vaccines easily accessible to those who want them.
“Vaccinations not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity and protect those who are unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons,” he wrote.
However, Hildebrand told the Atlantic that Kennedy had expressed private and skepticism. “He said, ‘You don’t know what the vaccine is about anymore.” “Hildebrand said, ‘He didn’t say anything about the vaccine being helpful.’
Newsweek contacted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services via email regarding responses to this on Kennedy’s behalf.
What people are saying
Hildebrand criticized the hospital that treated his daughter, claiming that he was unable to use the treatment he requested. “They didn’t give her the budesonide respiratory treatment we wanted,” he told the Atlantic. “They said the IV steroids they were giving her were better.”
Immunologist Dr. Michael Mina said, “The use of budesonide to treat measles is not biologically or mechanically meaningless. It’s much better to prevent measles through vaccination.”
The Contract Children’s Hospital stated: “Measles is a highly contagious and potentially life-threatening disease that often produces serious and well-known complications such as pneumonia, encephalitis, and other. We urge the public with questions about measles to talk to healthcare providers.”
What will happen next
As the outbreak continued, Kennedy’s agency deployed additional teams from the CDC to help Texas, providing more MMR vaccines to local pharmacies and clinics. It remains uncertain whether these efforts will counter vaccine skepticism in hard hit communities like the Seminoles.
