RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles

What happened

An unvaccinated 8-year-old girl in Texas died of measles on Thursday, state health officials said Sunday. She was the second child to die from the vaccine-preventable disease in a growing outbreak in Texas and nearby states, after a decade of no recorded U.S. measles deaths. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. visited Seminole, Texas, Sunday to attend the girl's funeral and "console the families" and community, he said in a post on X that also backed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine he has long criticized.

Who said what

"As of today, there are 642 confirmed cases of measles across 22 states, 499 of those in Texas," Kennedy said. "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine."

Kennedy's "about-face" on the MMR vaccine "vexed" Trump supporters who cheered his confirmation because of his long history of vaccine skepticism, Politico said. But Kennedy has taken "more pro-vaccine public health positions in prepared remarks than in his long-form interviews," The Washington Post said. His public "endorsement of alternative treatments has contributed to patients' delaying critical care and ingesting toxic levels of vitamin A," The New York Times said.

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What next?

Experts are warning that Trump administration "moves to dismantle international public health safeguards, pull funding from local health departments and legitimize health misinformation" have set "the stage for a long-term measles resurgence" in the U.S., the Times said.