Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, JR traveled to West Texas on Sunday after a second child of elementary school, who was not vaccinated died of a measles -related disease.
In front of a “Make America Healthy again” tour in the southwestern SH.BA, Kennedy said in a post on social media that he was in the Gaines region to comfort the families who have buried two young children.
Kennedy said he was working with Texas health officials to “check the measles outbreak”. The seminole is the epicenter of the explosion, which began in late January and continues to swell – with nearly 500 cases in Texas alone, plus cases of explosion believed to have spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mexico.
The second young child died Thursday from “what the child’s doctor described as a pulmonary failure of the measles”, and had no basic health conditions, said the State Health State Health Department in Texas on Sunday in a news statement. Aaron Davis, a spokesman for the UMC health system in Lubbock, said the child was “receiving treatment for measles complications while in hospital”.
This is the third known death associated with measles associated with this explosion. One was another child of elementary age in Texas and the other was an adult in New Mexico; Nor were they vaccinated.
Visit is Kennedy’s first visit to the area as Secretary of Health, where he said he met with 6-and-8-year-old children who died. He said he “developed links” with the Mennonite community in West Texas in which the virus is spreading mainly.
Kennedy, a lawyer against the vaccine before climbing the role of the Supreme Secretary of the Nation earlier this year, resisted them by promoting widespread vaccinations after the explosion of measures has worsened under his watch. However, on Sunday, he said in a long statement posted on X that it was “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles”.
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has been used safely for more than 60 years and is 97% effective to measles after two doses.
Teams of disease control and prevention of disease have been “redefined,” Kennedy added on Sunday, though the country’s public health agency never broadcast it was drawn back. Neither the CDC nor the State Health Department included death in their measles reports released on Friday, but the CDC accepted it when asked Sunday.
The number of cases in Texas increased by 81 between March 28 and April 4, and 16 other people were hospitalized. Across the country, the US has more than twice the number of measles cases it saw throughout 2024.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy from Luiziana, a liver doctor whose vote helped confirm Cink Kennedy, called on Sunday for stronger messages from health officials in a post on X.
“Everyone has to be vaccinated! There is no treatment for measles. There is no benefit to get measles,” he wrote. “Senior health officials must say so unequivocally B/4 that another baby dies.”
Cassidy has requested that Kennedy appear before his Health Committee on Thursday, though Kennedy has not publicly confirmed if he will participate.
A CDC spokesman noted the efficiency of the measles vaccine on Sunday, but stopped calling people to take it. Departing from long public health messages about vaccination, the spokesman called the decision a “personal” and encouraged people to talk to their doctor. People “should be informed about the risks and the potential benefits associated with vaccines,” the spokesman added.
Disinformation about how to prevent and treat measles is obstructing a strong public health response, including claims of vitamin A supplements that have been driven by Kennedy and Holistic Medical Supporters, despite doctors’ warnings that should be given under a physician’s orders and that many may be dangerous.
Doctors at the Lubbock Covenant Child Hospital, where the first death of measles occurred, say they have treated less than 10 children for liver issues from vitamin A toxicity, which they found when driving routine lab tests for children who were not completely vaccinated and have measles. Dr. Lara Johnson, the main medical officer, said patients reported using vitamin A to treat and prevent the virus.
Dr. Peter Marks, the former chief of the Food and Drug Administration vaccine, said the responsibility for death lies with Kennedy and his staff. Marks was forced to leave FDA after Kennedy disputes over vaccine safety.
“This is the embodiment of an absolute unnecessary death,” Mars told the Associated Press in an interview on Sunday. “These kids need to be vaccinated – this is how you prevent people from dying from measles.”
Marx also said he recently warned US senators that more deaths would happen if the administration did not make a more aggressive response to the explosion.
Experts and local health officials expect the explosion to continue for a few more months if not one year. In West Texas, most cases are in unjustified people and children younger than 17 years old.
With some states facing outbreaks of preventable vaccine disease-and decreased levels of child vaccination across the country-some concerns that measles can cost its status on how to eliminate the disease.
Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are sensitive will receive the virus if exposed, according to the CDC. The first blow is recommended for children aged 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years.
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