US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went to West Texas on Sunday after a second unvaccinated child died there of a measles-related illness. An 8-year-old girl had died Thursday at a Lubbock hospital of "measles pulmonary failure," records show, per the New York Times. Officials said she had no underlying health conditions. Kennedy said in an online post that he was in Gaines County to comfort families that lost two young children, per the AP. He attended the girl's funeral on Sunday, per the Times.
Kennedy also said he was working with Texas health officials to "control the measles outbreak." A longtime critic of vaccines, Kennedy nevertheless included an endorsement of them deep in his post on X. "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine," he wrote. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, a physician who voted to confirm Kennedy for his job after disagreeing with him on vaccines, called Sunday for clearer, stronger messages from health officials. "Everyone should be vaccinated! There is no treatment for measles," Cassidy wrote on X, adding, "Top health officials should say so unequivocally b/4 another child dies."
But the CDC waffled on Sunday. In a shift, an agency spokesperson, while noting that vaccines are effective, called the decision to get them a "personal one" and said people should talk to their doctor and "be informed about the potential risks and benefits associated with vaccines." A statement by the Lubbock hospital on Sunday said the girl's death "underscores the importance of vaccination." Neither the CDC nor the Texas health department included the girl's death in their measles reports released Friday, but they added it on Sunday.
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An unvaccinated child had died in Lubbock in February, the first measles death recorded in the US in a decade. And an unvaccinated adult died last month in New Mexico; although he tested positive for measles, health officials have not confirmed that was the cause of death. The outbreak apparently has spread from Texas to New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas after two months, per NPR, affecting almost 570 people. The World Health Organization also reported cases with a Texas connection in Mexico.
This file has been updated with Kennedy's announcement. (More measles stories.)
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