The unfolding crisis over the spread of measles in the United States among communities with high vaccine skepticism has been exacerbated after the death of a person hospitalized with illness in West Texas, the first deadly outbreak that began late last month.
Melissa Whitfield, a spokesman for the Center for Health Sciences at Texas Institute of Technology, confirmed his death Wednesday. It was the first death from measles in the United States since 2015.
The Texas Department of Health said the deceased school-age child had not been vaccinated, according to the Texas Department of Health, and after testing positive for measles, he was hospitalized in Lubbock last week.
Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Measles outbreaks in rural areas of western Texas have grown to 124 cases in nine counties, the state health department said Tuesday. There have also been nine cases across the border in eastern New Mexico.
The outbreak is largely spread in Mennonite communities, in areas where small towns are separated by vast, oil-equipped open lands. Almost 14% of school children in the area are exempt from childhood vaccinations.
Lala Anton, a spokesman for the state health department, said the cases were concentrated in “close, close, subtle” communities. Gaines County, which has reported 80 cases so far, has a strong homeschooling and a private school community.
The Texas crisis has promoted accused theory that vaccinations as a child are linked to autism and is one of his first acts in his new job, just as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has fallen into the hands of the infamous vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Donald Trump’s choice.
Kennedy on Wednesday said HHS was “watching” the incident but did not provide details on how federal agencies are helping out. He dismissed the Texas outbreak at the first meeting of Trump’s cabinet members in the president’s second administration, saying it was “not unusual.”
“We follow the measles epidemic every day,” Kennedy said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told The Associated Press that it is providing technical and lab support in West Texas, while the state’s health department is leading the response.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said through a spokesman that his office is in regular communication with the state’s health department and epidemiologists, and that vaccination teams are in “affected areas.”
Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to 2 hours. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to nine of the 10 susceptible people will be ingested when exposed. Most children recover from measles when they consume measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, swelling of the brain, and death.
Measles, mumps and rubella vaccines are safe and very effective in preventing infections and severe cases – recommended for children aged 12-15 months in the first shot, and are between the second and six years of age.
Vaccination rates have fallen nationwide since the Covid-19 pandemic, with most states below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergarteners. This is the level necessary to protect the community from the outbreak of measles. The vaccine series is needed for children before kindergarten in public schools across the country.
Last week, Kennedy vowed to investigate childhood vaccine schedules to prevent measles, polio and other dangerous diseases, but promised that he would not change it at his confirmation hearing.
