Houston: A child not vaccinated in Texas died of measles, confirmed health officials on Wednesday, marking the first death-related death in the United States in almost a decade, while the country is struggling with an increasing epidemic and declining immunization rates.
Death comes in the midst of the drop -down immunization rates at the national level, the last cases concentrated in a Mennonite religious community which has historically shown hesitation to the vaccine.
This comes at a delicate moment for American public health, because Kennedy, who has long disseminated lies on the measles vaccine, mumps and rubella (MMR), begins his mandate as a secretary of health.
“The school child who was not vaccinated was hospitalized in Lubbock last week and was tested positive for measles,” the state health department said in a press release.
A statement by Lubbock City confirmed that the child died “in the last 24 hours”.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 130 cases of measles have been reported in western Texas and the neighboring New Mexico, the vast majority of non-vaccinated children.
Eighteen have been hospitalized in Texas and health officials warn that the epidemic should grow.
Addressing journalists at a meeting of President Donald Trump’s office, Kennedy minimized the situation, declaring: “It is not unusual. You have epidemics of measles each year.”
He also said that the number of deaths as two – but neither the Texas health services nor the New Mexico said they were experiencing additional deaths.
“Although epidemics of multiple measles in the United States have not caused a death, this is only a matter of time that we would happen,” infectious infectious diseases of infectious diseases, Adalja of Johns Hopkins, told AFP.
“Measles kills even more than 100,000 individuals in the world. The death should recall that there was a reason why the vaccine was developed and that the vaccine is a value for individuals,” said Adalja.
“These deaths are almost entirely avoidable.”
Religious exemptions
The epicenter of the epidemic is the county of sheaths, which houses an important mennonite population, a Christian sect with history of vaccination hesitation.
Texas law authorizes the exemptions from vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend a 95% vaccination rate to maintain “the immunity of the herd”.
However, coverage of kindergarten children increased from 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7% in 2023-2024, leaving some 280,000 vulnerable children.
The last death linked to American measles took place in 2015, when a woman from the state of Washington died of pneumonia caused by the virus. She had been vaccinated but took immunosuppressive drugs. Before that, the death of previous recorded measles was in 2003.
Air threat
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spreads through droplets when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezing. It presents a serious risk for non -vaccinated individuals, including infants under 12 months of age which are generally not eligible for vaccination and those with a weakened immune system.
During epidemics, approximately one infected in five requires hospitalization and one in 20 develops pneumonia.
In rare cases, measles leads to swelling of the brain and can be fatal. It also increases the risk of pregnancy complications, including premature birth and low birth weight.
The United States reported 285 cases of measles in 2023, according to the CDC. The largest recent epidemic took place in 2019, with 1,274 cases – mainly in Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and New Jersey – the highest national total in decades.
Before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, it is believed that millions of people contracted the disease each year and that several hundred died. While measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, epidemics persist each year.
RFK JR has repeatedly linked the Ror vaccine to autism, an in -depth affirmation by scientific research.
In one of its first actions in charge, the Federal Health Department postponed a routine meeting of an independent advisory committee which makes vaccine recommendations to the CDC.
