Second confirmed measles death

I am sad to share that an 8 year old child has died of measles in Texas, bringing the number of confirmed deaths to two. A third person died in New Mexico last month, but the official cause of death remains under investigation. Dozens have been hospitalized over the course of the outbreak, and the case count continues to grow rapidly.

What especially concerns me about the current situation is that there are multiple hotspots. The west Texas/New Mexico outbreak is the largest, but there are sizable clusters in Kansas and Ohio as well. Several other states have reported individual cases and smaller outbreaks.

These cases and deaths are especially tragic because they are preventable. The MMR vaccine is highly effective: two doses provide around 97% protection, and even one dose can prevent about 93% of infections.

Not everyone affected is voluntarily unvaccinated. Nearly a third of cases in Texas are children ages 0-4, many too young to be vaccinated. For example, a daycare outbreak in Lubbock, Texas, has infected six young children. The more this virus circulates, the more opportunities it has to reach vulnerable people.

It's impossible to ignore the current political backdrop. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, has already taken steps as HHS Secretary to restructure federal vaccine efforts. For example, Peter Marks, the nation’s top vaccine regulator, left the FDA recently. The WSJ reports that prior to his departure, “Kennedy’s team requested that Marks turn over data on cases of brain swelling and deaths caused by the measles vaccine—data that Marks said doesn’t exist because there have been no such confirmed cases in the U.S.” The standing committees that advise the CDC and FDA on vaccine matters were paused, though the CDC meeting has been rescheduled for later this month. And HHS reportedly hired an “antivaccine crusader”—who was disciplined for practicing medicine without a license—to study vaccines and autism.

Declining vaccine coverage predates Kennedy, of course, but I am concerned that his priorities will accelerate the trend. Measles is flaring not because the tools to stop it are unavailable, but because our public health infrastructure, including people’s participation in it, is eroding. The consequences aren’t abstract—they’re hospitalizations, disabilities, and deaths, many among children too young to be protected. What’s happening now shows how quickly our health security can deteriorate when prevention becomes politicized.