RFK Jr. says MMR vaccine is ‘the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles’ as second child dies from the disease

(CNN) — US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he has arrived in West Texas after a school-aged child died at a local hospital where they were receiving treatment for measles – marking the second death of a minor in the state linked to the ongoing outbreak.

“My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief,” Kennedy said in a post on X Sunday.

A funeral for the latest victim was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, according to an obituary.

HHS is partnering with Texas health officials to better combat the measles outbreak in the state and has deployed teams from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the area, Kennedy added.

As of Friday, Texas has reported 481 outbreak-associated cases, according to the Texas Department of Health.

“We are deeply saddened to report that a school-aged child who was recently diagnosed with measles has passed away. The child was receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized,” Aaron Davis, vice president of UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, told CNN in a statement.

“It is important to note that the child was not vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions,” he continued.

The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles, Kennedy said Sunday.

A Trump administration official told The New York Times the child’s cause of death is “still being looked at.”

CNN did not immediately hear back from inquiries sent to the Texas Department of Health and HHS.

Texas’ first measles death linked to the ongoing outbreak was in an unvaccinated school-aged child in February. A death in New Mexico remains under investigation.

The outbreak – now spanning Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and possibly Kansas – reached at least 569 cases Friday, according to data obtained from state health departments.

In Texas, nearly all outbreak-related cases were in unvaccinated people, and 70% were among children and teens, health department data shows. Many of those cases have broken out in West Texas, with Gaines County accounting for nearly 66% of cases.

In Lubbock County, which accounts for nearly 7% of the confirmed cases in Texas, UMC Health has started offering drive-up measles screenings at both of its 24/7 urgent care centers.

Meanwhile, New Mexico has reported 54 cases, and Oklahoma reported 10 cases – eight confirmed and two probable – as of Friday. Cases in Kansas, which the state health department said may be linked to the outbreak, reached 24 as of Wednesday.

Many of those cases are among unvaccinated people, and experts say the numbers are most likely a severe undercount because many cases go unreported.

With most reported cases among minors, experts worry about increasing hospitalizations, especially in younger children who are at higher risk of complications.

“The more children who get the disease means that there’s an increased chance that there will be more children getting sicker with complications from measles,” said Dr. Christina Johns, a pediatric emergency physician at PM Pediatrics in Annapolis, Maryland.

US Sen. Bill Cassidy, who is a physician, called on top health officials Sunday to address the measles outbreak.

“Everyone should be vaccinated! There is no treatment for measles. No benefit to getting measles. Top health officials should say so unequivocally b/4 another child dies,” Cassidy wrote on X.

Kennedy has downplayed the severity of the outbreak and faced criticism of the agency’s response.

Kennedy’s response to the outbreak has been “abysmal,” said Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital.

Offit highlighted the secretary’s history of decrying vaccines and minimizing the risk of measles.

“The disease has returned because a critical percentage of parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children, in large part because of misinformation provided by people like RFK Jr,” he said.

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