Last Wednesday, during President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of the nation’s largest federal health agency, downplayed a measles outbreak that has infected more than 150 people and killed a child in Texas.
“We’re following the measles epidemic every day,” Kennedy said with reporters in the room during the Cabinet meeting. “Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. … So it’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.”
Two days later, Kennedy, a longtime critic of well-established vaccines, seemed to backtrack from that stance and said he recognizes the serious impact of the outbreak in west Texas.
The U.S. government, through the Department of Health and Human Services, is providing resources, including protective vaccines, Kennedy said in a post on X Friday.
HHS is sending Texas 2,000 doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR), as well as laboratory support to better track the virus,
HHS also is communicating with public health officials “every day in all affected areas to support their response and ensure they have the resources they need,” Kennedy posted on X.
“We will continue to fund Texas’ immunization program. Ending the measles outbreak is a top priority for me and my extraordinary team at HHS,” Kennedy wrote.
In the past, Kennedy has opposed vaccine mandates for COVID-19 and promoted the disproven claim that childhood immunizations can cause autism.
As of February 27, 2025, a total of 164 measles cases were reported by 9 jurisdictions: Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, Rhode Island, and Texas, according to CDC data updated on Thursday.
Of those 164 cases, 95% of the individuals are unvaccinated, the CDC reports. So far, 20% of those cases, or 32 out of 164, have been hospitalized.
The death of an unvaccinated school-age child in West Texas, confirmed by a state health official this week, is the first fatality in the U.S. since 2015.
The U.S. declared measles “eliminated” from the country in 2000.
The Texas outbreak began in a small Mennonite community near Lubbock and has since spread. HHS is providing communications materials for the affected populations in Low German.
There have been 3 outbreaks, defined as 3 or more related cases, reported in 2025, and 93% of cases (153 of 164) are outbreak-associated, according to CDC data.
In 2024, there were 285 U.S. cases reported and 40% were hospitalized, according to CDC data.
Public health experts are sounding the alarm about the outbreak and warn that communities with low immunization rates are at greatest risk for further spread of the disease.
“West Texas has pockets of alarmingly low MMR vaccination rates. In the area where this outbreak began, one in five children is unvaccinated. Measles spreads like wildfire in unprotected communities—it’s the most contagious virus on earth. On average, one infected person will spread it to 12–18 unvaccinated people,” wrote Katelyn Jetelina, Ph.D., an epidemiologist and data scientist, in her popular newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist.”
Measles is known for its characteristic red, mottled rash that often starts on the face before spreading to the entire body. But, Jetelina noted, while many children recover from measles, some die of pneumonia caused by the virus. “Measles can also lead to deafness and brain damage, and it can wipe out a huge fraction of immune memory to other diseases, like the flu, leading to an increase in all-cause deaths years later,” she wrote.
Jetelina also called out Kennedy’s previous inaccurate statements about the measles outbreak. “RFK Jr. incorrectly said there’s ‘nothing unusual; we have measles outbreaks every year.’ First, there’s nothing normal about a child dying from measles. Also, this year’s tally has already surpassed 8 out of the past 15 years’ annual measles counts.”
“We are only 1.5 months into 2025. Finally, we have only had 4 outbreaks with more than 100 cases in the past 10 years. West Texas is now on the list. Instead, Kennedy should publicly state his support for MMR vaccines. (Which he hasn’t.),” Jetelina wrote.
The Texas Health and Human Services department promoted the MMR vaccine as the best defense against the disease.
“The best way to prevent getting sick is to be immunized with two doses of a vaccine against measles, which is primarily administered as the combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are highly effective at preventing measles,” the agency said on its website.
The CDC released its first public statement about the outbreak on Thursday.
“HHS is providing technical assistance, laboratory support, vaccines, and therapeutic medication as needed to the Texas Department of State Health Services and New Mexico Department of Health, which are leading the responses to the outbreaks in their jurisdictions,” the agency said.
“Vaccination remains the best defense against measles infection,” the CDC said in its statement.
The CDC statement also highlighted that measles does not have a specific antiviral treatment. Supportive care, including vitamin A administration under the direction of a physician, may be appropriate,” the agency wrote.
Kennedy, in his X post, also noted that the CDC updated its guidance on measles management to include “physician-administered outpatient vitamin A.”
Vitamin A has used for severe measles cases in children in developing countries, where vitamin deficiencies are common, NBC News reported. In those cases, studies have found it can reduce complications and the risk of death, though it’s not seen as a cure for the disease. It’s also been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization in children hospitalized with measles.
But, doctors and public health experts stress that vitamin A isn’t effective for preventing measles and some are concerned that people will see vitamin A as an alternative.
“There are examples of other outbreaks where that falsehood has spread through communities, the idea that vitamin A can be used as an alternative to MMR vaccination, and that is not the case,” said Dr. David Higgins, a pediatrician and preventive medicine specialist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, in the NBC News article.
High levels of vitamin A can be toxic, according to medical experts.
Many public health experts expect the outbreak to spread. “We’re at 124 cases in 33 days. We don’t yet know how large it will get, but the ‘force of infection’ is strong. For reference, the last major U.S. measles outbreak (New York, 2019) hit 1,000+ cases,” Jetelina wrote in his newsletter. “This could be worse, but thanks to vaccination, behavioral shifts, and the tireless work of public health teams, it’s not spreading as fast as it could.”
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