2nd child dies of measles in Texas, RFK Jr now says vaccines are the «most effective way to prevent the spread»

According to Texas health authorities, the young girl died from a «pulmonary insufficiency due to measles » in a hospital in Lubbock, in the northwest of the State. «It is important to note that the child was not vaccinated against measles and did not suffer from any known underlying medical condition», said Aaron Davis, vice-president of the UMC health system in Lubbock.

More than 600 cases of the highly contagious disease have been reported since the beginning of the year, the majority of them in Texas. As of Friday, the state Department of Health reported 481 cases linked to the outbreak.

In reaction to the girl’s death, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who heads the US Department of Health and Human Services, went to Texas on Sunday: ‘My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief,’ he said in a post on X on Sunday.

RFK Jr’s handling of the measles epidemic is being criticized, particularly by health professionals. They accuse him of downplaying the severity of the situation and criticize his anti-vaccine speeches.

RFK Jr has often supported the idea that there is a link between the mandatory MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism. The scientific community has repeatedly refuted this theory.

Kennedy has now changed his rhetoric. Indeed, he then stated that ‘the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine’ on Sunday on X. He also said in early March that vaccines ‘not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons’. A drastic turnaround that did not please his anti-vaccines supporters.

RFK Jr had also acknowledged in early March that the situation was «serious», after initially stating that «we have measles epidemics every year».

A first unvaccinated child had already died from measles in Lubbock at the end of February. It was the first death attributed to this disease in the United States in a decade.

The authorities of the neighboring state of New Mexico (southwest) had also announced in early March that the measles virus had been detected in an unvaccinated patient after their death. However, the causes of their death are still under investigation.

Measles was declared eradicated in the United States in 2000 thanks to vaccination. However, infections have increased in recent years, due to the decline in vaccination rates recorded since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads through respiratory droplets and remains in the air for up to two hours after the infected person has left.