Officials said on Wednesday that an unnatural child in Texas had died of measles, on Wednesday, by marking the first American ambush from the highly infectious virus in almost a decade and promoting fear of renewed its revival.
The death is amid the decline in vaccination rates as nationwide and Robert F. Kennedy Junior, who have spread long lies around measles, kanthamala and rubella (MMR) vaccine, starting their term as US Health Secretary.
The state health department said in a news release, “The school-class child was not vaccinated, which was admitted to the hospital in Lubock last week and positive testing for measles.”
A statement by Lubock City confirmed that the child passed away “within the last 24 hours.”
Addressing reporters during a meeting in President Donald Trump’s cabinet, Kennedy said: “There are two people who have died,” but did not give any further details. He also said, “This is not uncommon. You have measles every year.”
Since the beginning of the year, more than 130 measles cases have been reported in West Texas and neighboring New Mexico, which is a vast majority among unworted children.
Eighteen is hospitalized in Texas, and health officials warned that outbreaks are likely to increase.
“While many measles outbreaks have not occurred in the United States, it’s only a time,” infectious disease physician at Johns Hopkins University, Amesh Adalja told AFP.
“Khasra still kills over 100,000 persons worldwide every year. Death should act as a reminder that a reason was that the vaccine was developed and that the vaccine is a value for individuals. These deaths are almost completely completely prevented.”
Religious discount
The outbreak is the Epicnter Ganes County, which is the home of an important menonite population, a Christian sect with a history of vaccine hesitation.
The Texas law allows vaccine discounts for conscience causes including religious beliefs.
“In Texas, you can simply say too much, I object,” Texas -based vaccination partnership Terry Burke, which promotes childhood vaccination, told AFP.
The disease control and prevention center (CDC) recommends a 95 percent vaccination rate to maintain “flock immunity”.
However, coverage between the kindergarters declined from 95.2 percent to 92.7 percent in the 2019-2020 school year in 2023-2024, which weakened some 280,000 children.
The final American measles-related death occurred in 2015, when a woman died of pneumonia due to a virus in the state of Washington. He was vaccinated but he was taking immunospressive medicine. Earlier, previous recorded measles died in 2003.
Air threat
Measles is a highly infectious respiratory virus, when an infected person breathes, coughing or sneezing, spreads through drops. It pose a serious risk for unwanted individuals, including infants under the age of 12–15 months, which are not yet eligible for vaccination, and people with weaker immune systems.
During the outbreak, one of the five infected individuals require hospitalization, and one in 20 develops pneumonia. In rare cases, measles leads to inflammation of the brain and may be fatal. It also increases the risk of pregnancy complications, including premature birth and low birth weight.
According to the CDC, the US reported 285 measles cases in 2023. The largest recent outbreak was in 2019, with 1,274 cases – mainly in the conservative Jewish communities in New York and New Jersey – the highest national total in decades.
Before introducing measles vaccine in 1963, it is believed that millions of people used to contract an annual disease, and several hundred died. While the measles in the US was abolished in the US in 2000, outbreaks continued every year.
RFK JR has repeatedly linked the MMR vaccine to autism, which has been fully debated by scientific research.
In one of its first tasks, the Federal Health Department postponed a regular meeting of an independent advisory panel, which recommends the vaccine to the CDC.
Originally set on 26–28 February, the meeting was to address vaccines for meningococcal disease, influenza and chikungunya. No new date has been announced.
(This story is not edited by NDTV employees and auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
