State health officials said Wednesday that the child died of measles, the first known death of a widespread outbreak in the community and neighbouring New Mexico.
The patient was a school-age child who had not been vaccinated, according to officials from Lubbock, Texas, and the State Department of Health Department. A press conference was planned at Covenant Medical Center in Lubbock on Wednesday afternoon.
The outbreak has sparked concern among public health experts over the decline in vaccination rates and confirmation of prominent vaccine skeptics Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
At a ministerial meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Kennedy downplayed the news, saying federal health officials were “watching” the outbreak, noting that there were others this year.
“So it's not unusual,” he said. He did not mention vaccinations or explain the steps the federal government may be taking to help stop the outbreak.
(Kennedy also claimed that two people had died in Texas, but authorities said there was only one.)
In The Ledles Book, published by Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit that he founded, Kennedy wrote that “measles outbreaks were manufactured to create fear,” and that “it gives millions of children unnecessary and dangerous vaccines for the sole purpose of mitigating industrial interests.”
As of February 20th, there were three outbreaks of measles in the United States this year, with 16 outbreaks last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year there were a total of 285 outbreaks. The tally so far this year is almost half.
Some experts opposed describing the outbreak as not unusual.
“We are a pediatrician and preventive medicine expert at Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus,” said Dr. David Higgins, pediatrician and preventive medicine expert.
“What we need to do as a nation now is to rebuild and build confidence into one of the biggest public health tools ever created,” he said.
Others warned against using last year's outbreak as a benchmark, noting that vaccination rates have already been eroded. “This is not normal,” said Dr. Cameron Wolf, an infectious disorder expert at Duke University.
At least 124 measles have been identified in Texas, primarily among children and teenagers who have not been vaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, Texas health officials said.
18 people have been hospitalized. Catherine Wells, director of public health in Lubbock, Texas, said the measles outbreak is the state's largest in over 30 years.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease and can be life-threatening for people who are not protected from the virus.
Doctors say the best way to protect against illness can be two doses of vaccines. This is usually administered to children as a measles-mumpsulvera (MMR) vaccine. Two doses of the MMR vaccine prevent more than 97% of measles infections.
Most cases are concentrated in Gaines County, the western edge of the state. It is home to thousands of Mennonites, a Christian group on the island that has historically had low vaccination rates. Officials said the child who died Wednesday resided in Gaines County.
Last year, about 82% of the county's population was receiving the MMR vaccine. Experts say at least 95% of people in the community need to get vaccinated to stop the outbreak.
Public health officials believe the outbreak has begun in the community, but have since been fan-out to surrounding counties.
New Mexico also reports nine cases in Lee County, the southeastern state and the Texas border.
Four of them are children under the age of 18, and all of them have not been vaccinated, according to Robert Knott, a spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Health. None of the New Mexico cases have led to hospitalizations, he said.
The national vaccination rate for measles that fell during the Covid-19 pandemic has not rebounded against the 95% needed to stem the spread of measles in communities.
According to the CDC anti-vaccine campaign, less than 93% of kindergarten children were vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella from 2023 to 2024.
“What I'm most wary about is the decline in measles vaccination rates, especially in certain communities,” Dr. Higgins said. “And measles is so contagious that when you enter a community with very low vaccination rates it spreads like a wildfire.”
The measles virus can remain in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves the room. Each infected person can spread the virus to as many as 18 other people.
When an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes, the virus spreads. Within a week or two of exposure, an infected person can develop high fever, cough, runny nose, red and watery eyes.
Within a few days, it will escape as flat, red spots on the surface, spreading its neck and torso over the rest of the body.
In most cases, these symptoms resolve within a few weeks. However, in rare cases, the virus can cause pneumonia, making it difficult for patients, especially children, to obtain oxygen in the lungs, and swelling of the brain can cause permanent problems such as blindness, hearing loss, and intellectual disability.
According to the CDC, every 1,000 children who consume measles will die. Viruses also harm immune defenses, making the body vulnerable to other pathogens.
A 2015 study estimates that measles may account for all half of infectious disease deaths in children prior to widespread vaccinations. Even today, the consequences can be serious. According to the CDC, about 40% of people infected last year were hospitalized.
Texas health officials are encouraging people to succeed in getting the MMR vaccine. Since Lubbock began holding clinics two weeks ago, health workers have vaccinated about 100 more people than usual, despite a decline in attendance in the past two days.
