Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
What happened
The measles outbreak centered in Gaines County, Texas, has grown to more than 370 cases in at least three states, health officials said Tuesday, already topping the 285 cases recorded across the U.S. all last year. Along with Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, 16 other states have recorded measles this year, including at least 10 recent cases in Kansas. Two unvaccinated people have died.
Who said what
The CDC "hasn't held a public briefing" since President Donald Trump's inauguration, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has "promoted unproven treatments for measles," ignoring virologists and "listening to fringe voices who reinforce his personal beliefs," Kevin Griffis, who resigned as CDC communications director last Friday, said in an op-ed at The Washington Post.
After Kennedy endorsed vitamin A cod-liver-oil supplements "as a near miraculous cure for measles" on Fox News, doctors in West Texas "say they've now treated a handful of unvaccinated children who were given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage," The New York Times said.
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What next?
HHS has hired David Geier, a "vaccine skeptic who has long promoted false claims about the connection between immunizations and autism," to lead a "critical study of possible links between the two," the Post said Tuesday. "Public health and autism experts fear" that Geier's analysis "will produce a flawed study with far-reaching consequences."
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