Twenty-five years after it was declared eliminated from the US thanks to a nationwide and highly effective vaccination program, a measles outbreak in Texas has health experts raising the alarm bells.
As of Monday, there have been 146 confirmed cases in the state, including one death of a school-aged child, in the "first measles-related fatality in the United States in over a decade," according to a statement by Robert Kennedy Jr., the Trump adminsitration's secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
It's a particularly bizarre situation, given Kennedy's staunch anti-vaccine track record. He's spent many years engaging in fearmongering campaigns surrounding vaccines, including ones targeting immunizations against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) specifically, as Mother Jones reports.
After visiting Samoa in 2019, where he discussed the topic of vaccines and met with anti-vaccine activists, a massive measles outbreak ensued and 83 people died. At the time, he was chairman of an anti-vaxx nonprofit called Children's Health Defense, which called for a "natural experiment."
He's even written op-eds accusing MMR vaccine maker Merck of "chicanery."
But in the face of a domestic catastrophe, Kennedy has seemingly done a 180. In an op-ed for Fox News — which appears to be a carbon copy of the HHS statement linked above — Kennedy said that he was "deeply concerned" about the developing situation and that "vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons."
It's a massive flip-flop that has reportedly turned the anti-vaxx community, which Kennedy once rallied behind, on its head. Many of his supporters have been noticeably quiet following his outing as being pro-vaccine, and others have turned on him.
"I’m waiting to hear the backstory," Silicon Valley entrepreneur and anti-vaccine activist Steve Kirsch, who started an entire Super PAC to support Kennedy's presidential run last year, tweeted when asked about his opinion on Kennedy's Fox News op-ed.
Others were far more outspoken about their dismay.
"RFK, Jr. is going to bring in the next death shot, healthy people will be dropping dead, Trump will ignore the mass die-off, tout the bioweapon as a 'great accomplishment,' and MAGA will praise him," anti-vaccine activist and far-right influencer Stew Peters tweeted.
Other anti-vaxxers latched onto Kennedy recommending "good nutrition" to fight "most chronic and infectious illnesses," as Mother Jones reports.
"Studies have found to an external website that vitamin A can dramatically reduce measles mortality," Kennedy's statement reads, while also failing to mention that the evidence is inconclusive at best.
While Kennedy's embracing of vaccines has alienated his fellow anti-vaccine activists, many health experts were alarmed by his suggestion that vitamin A could somehow fend off measles.
"In fact, relying on vitamin A instead of the vaccine is not only dangerous and ineffective, but it puts children at serious risk," American Academy of Pediatrics president Sue Kressly told the Washington Post. "Taking too much vitamin A can cause serious health problems, including liver damage."
"It could lead to the impression of a false equivalency," Baylor College of Medicine dean Peter Hotez added. "To make the best decision for your children, you can either vaccinate or give vitamin A... That would be highly misleading."
Experts were also alarmed by Kennedy suggesting that the "decision to vaccinate is a personal one," despite decades of scientific evidence that they work and save lives.
It's a sad state of affairs, with Kennedy even failing to relay basic health information to the public. During the recent Cabinet meeting, the HHS secretary claimed that two individuals had died as a result of the outbreak.
So far, only a single death has been confirmed by his own agency.
More on vaccines: As Measles Outbreak Spreads, RFK Jr. Reverses Message and Urges Vaccination
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