During the Senate confirmation hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—the infamous anti-vaxxer whose brain was also once infamously inhabited by a worm—Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he was nervous about making him the country’s top health official because, if a child were to die of a vaccine-preventable disease, that would “cast a shadow” over President Trump’s legacy.
I believe there’ll be hundreds of thousands if not millions of shadows ultimately blanketing Trump’s “legacy,” but let’s officially add Cassidy’s to the top of the heap. (Cassidy, of course, still voted to confirm Kennedy as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.)
On Wednesday, state officials in Texas confirmed an unvaccinated child died of measles—the first death in the U.S. since 2015 and the first child’s death since 2003—amid the state’s worst measles outbreak in nearly 30 years. And RFK Jr., who’s pushed anti-vax propaganda for decades and who basically caused a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019, did his best to downplay the severity of the outbreak, while also misreporting the number of deaths and claiming that the majority of those hospitalized were “mainly for quarantine.”
“It’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year,” Kennedy told reporters. “There are two people who have died, but we’re watching it.”
At least 124 people—only five of them vaccinated—around Lubbock, Texas, have been reported infected, the majority of them children. Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician and the chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, confirmed they “don’t hospitalize patients for quarantine purposes,” during a press conference on Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—the agency that Kennedy now helms—also confirmed they’ve only been made aware of one death.
Eighteen people have been hospitalized, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, and officials report that some developed bacterial pneumonia and needed to be put on oxygen while others had to be intubated. Though Dr. Johnson said she’s already treated “around 20” children and believes the state has been slow to update its numbers.
Also on Thursday, Kentucky reported its first case of measles since 2023. while New Jersey reported two new cases. As of February 20, the CDC reports there are currently 93 measles cases across Alaska, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, Rhode Island, and Texas. According to the agency, in 2023, only three cases of measles were reported between January and February. In 2024, there were 16 measles outbreaks (categorized by three or more cases) and 285 cases. The worst measles outbreak in the U.S. was in 1992.
Measles was considered eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, but vaccination rates have been on the decline since covid. In October, the CDC reported that most states are currently below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners—which is the necessary level to protect communities against outbreaks.
“Absolutely devastating news. Encouraging parents to make sure their child is up-to-date on their vaccines,” Cassidy tweeted in response to the child’s death. “The measles vaccine is safe and effective.” If only he’d voted to confirm someone who also believed that.
