Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has downplay the deadly spread and promote a range of unproven treatments .
Cases of measles in the US surpassed 1,000 for just the second time in 30 years this week. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still isn’t taking it seriously.
The deadly and fast-spreading outbreak that first started in western Texas in January has spread to at least 31 states, with 1,001 cases in total reported,according to Friday datafrom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Texas currently has the most cases at 709. Three unvaccinated people have died, including two school-aged children from Texas. Data from the CDC shows that 96% of cases in the US came from people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. More than 120 people have been hospitalized.
As the onslaught continues , Kennedy ― an anti - vaccine confederacy theorist who now heads the country ’s top wellness office ― has routinely downplayed the deadly banquet , includingpromoting a range of unproven treatment .
After the decease of a 6 - year - honest-to-god son in February , Kennedysaid the child ’s death was “ not unusual . ”
“ We have rubeola outbreaks every class , ” he state at the time .
But this spread is unlike others the US has antecedently seen , becoming thesecond - high case countin 25 years .
“ The most efficacious way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccinum , ” he post on X.
But since then , Kennedy has keep to minimize the continued ranch of measles and the effectiveness of the MMR vaccine , which address rubeola , epidemic parotitis , and rubella .
At the end of April , Kennedy baselessly claimed that the measles vaccine “ contains a pile ofaborted foetus debrisand DNA particles . ” Less than a calendar week after , he go on a TV appearance to tell parents to“do your own research”on vaccines . Kennedy did not specify any source parents should attend at .
And earlier this calendar month , Kennedy herald theHHS would look into using vitaminsas a possible intervention for measles .
The directive comes because Kennedy and department officials “ recognize that some individuals and community across the US may select not to immunize , ” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon tell in a instruction .
Kennedy also announced this month that the HHS will nowrequire placebo testing for “ all new vaccines . ”Health experts warn that the change could in earnest detain a vaccinum ’s exit and lead to making vaccines less accessible . It could also make situations in which someone need a life - saving vaccine could instead get a placebo , which is an inert substance that does not contain the vaccinum .
“ You are watching the gradual dissolution of the vaccine substructure in this commonwealth , ” Paul Offit , director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children ’s Hospital of Philadelphia , told The Washington Post . “The goal is to make vaccine less useable and less low-cost . ”
make matters worse , M of workers at the HHS were lay off originally this twelvemonth as part of President Donald Trump ’s continued purge of polite servants . On Monday , more than a dozen statessued the Trump brass over the firings , arguing that the cuts brought important oeuvre at the way to a “ sudden stop . ”
Despite Kennedy ’s seemingly - loose reply to the scatter and his continued denigration of vaccinum , the CDC still recommends vaccinations as the expert path to keep morbilli .
“ Measles is an airborne , super infectious , and potentially severe rash illness , ” the CDC ’s website says . “ Before the rubeola vaccinewas put in , an estimated 48,000 people were hospitalized and 400–500 citizenry died in the United States each year . ”
This article originally appeared onHuffPost .
