Infamously vax-doubting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted the benefits of the measles vaccine Sunday as a growing outbreak of the deadly disease ravages Texas. The HHS secretary,

Health experts say there ought to be no outbreaks in the United States. “Each outbreak signifies a lapse in our public health defenses and poses serious risks, especially to children,” said Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as U.S. Surgeon General during the first Trump administration.

Measles cases are popping up across the United States, including an outbreak in Texas that has led to the death of a child.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10.3 million people were infected with measles and 107,500 died. Most were unvaccinated people or children younger than five. Cases were most common in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia where incomes are low and health services insufficient.

As of late last week, 164 people in the United States had confirmed cases of measles – more than halfway to last year’s total of 285 in the first two months of the year. Most cases were in

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, seemingly reversed course and touted benefits of MMR vaccine amid deadly Texas measles outbreak.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has described the outbreak in West Texas last week as a “top priority.” But he has not explicitly encouraged Americans to get vaccinated.

Measles was considered to be eliminted in the U.S. in 2000, thanks to vaccine developments. But vaccination rates have dropped since the covid pandemic began.

Measles can cause complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, long-term hearing loss and death — as is the case in the current Texas outbreak. In the decade before the measles vaccine, the CDC estimates 3 to 4 million people were infected and 400 to 400 people died from the virus every year in the United States.