Longtime sceptic RFK Jr urges people to get vaccinated for measles amid deadly outbreak in Texas

Longtime vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr made a stark U-turn on Sunday as he urged people to get vaccinated for measles amid a deadly outbreak in Texas.

The newly-appointed Health and Human Services secretary spoke out about the role the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine plays in preventing the deadly virus in an op-ed for Fox News.

He explained that before the MMR vaccine was created and approved by the federal government in the 1960s ‘virtually every child in the United States contracted measles.’

From 1953 through 1962, ‘on average, there were 530,217 confirmed cases and 440 deaths’ with a fatality rate of one in 1205 cases, Kennedy noted.

‘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,’ he wrote in the op-ed entitled ‘Measles outbreak is call for action for all of us.’

‘As healthcare providers, community leaders and policymakers, we have a shared responsibility to protect public health,’ the HHS secretary continued. ‘This includes ensuring that accurate information about vaccine safety and efficacy is disseminated.

‘We must engage with communities to understand their concerns, provide culturally competent education and make vaccines readily accessible for all those who want them.’

Still, RFK Jr wrote that the decision to vaccinate is ‘a personal one.’

‘By working together – parents, healthcare providers, community leaders and government officials, we can prevent future outbreaks and protect the health of our nation,’ Kennedy concluded.

The remarks came in stark contrast to Kennedy’s previous claims that the jab could cause autism and his statement last week that the ever-expanding outbreak in Texas is ‘not unusual.’

No link has ever been detected between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders.

But in recent years, vaccination rates across the country has plummeted – especially in school-age children.

Across the country, the percentage of children seeking exemptions has risen over the past decade, from 0.76 percent in 2014 to 3.3 percent during the 2023-2024 school year.

According to the CDC, in 2024 vaccination coverage among kindergartners declined for all shots – down to 93 percent for MMR.   

Experts now blame those falling vaccination rates for the ever-expanding outbreak in Texas, one of several states that allows exemptions based on religious reasons.

It is the state’s largest in nearly 30 years, largely concentrated in what the Texas Department of State Health Services described as a ‘close-knit, under-vaccinated’ Mennonite community – a Christian sect that has historically shown vaccine hesitancy.

At least 146 measles cases have since been identified in the South Plains and Panhandle since January, according to the latest available information from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

On Wednesday, Texas health officials also confirmed there has been a measles-related death – the first in the United States since 2015.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said the death was in a ‘school-aged child who was not vaccinated’ and had been hospitalized last week.  

The federal department of Health and Human Services is now providing technical support and vaccines to Texas, as well as lab support and outreach materials in Low German – a language commonly used by the Mennonite community in West Texas – as well as daily communication with local officials.

But Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician and chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas is now warning that this is just the ‘beginning of the outbreak’ and ‘we’re going to see a lot more illness among unvaccinated kids over the next few months.’

One infected person can spread the highly contagious respiratory illness to 12 to 18 other people in an unvaccinated population.

The virus can be transmitted through direct contact with airborne droplets that spread when a person breathes, coughs, or sneezes.

Cases have now been reported in New Mexico, where authorities said they found nine cases in adults and school-age children, and in Georgia, where six members of the same Atlanta-area family fell ill with measles.

California also reported three cases, excluding one in a foreign traveler who arrived at Los Angeles International (LAX) airport this week while infectious. 

New Jersey and New York have each reported three and two cases, respectively, all in unvaccinated individuals.

Alaska, Washington state, and Kentucky have each had one case, according to the latest data. 

The virus causes tiny white spots inside the mouth, flat red spots on the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet, ear infections and an intense fever. 

Cold-like symptoms, such as a fever, cough and a runny or blocked nose, are usually the first signal of measles before a rash develops. 

In extreme cases, measles can cause pneumonia, encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and may even lead to death. 

Most of the young patients Dr. Johnson said she has seen are being hospitalized for breathing difficulties and are in need of supplemental oxygen, while others have very high fevers, which can be fatal in young children.

With the outbreak spreading in Texas, she says it is best to keep vulnerable children ‘out of the grocery store and crowded places as much as possible’ and ‘if you’re worried about your baby, call your pediatrician.’

From her experience, Dr Johnson says parents of vaccinated children shouldn’t be overly concerned as they are ‘very unlikely to get it.’

But for parents of unvaccinated children, she says the telltale sign of the virus is a rash which starts on the face. 

She also noted that it is not too late for a child to be vaccinated against the virus even after they develop symptoms.