Kennedy visits the funeral in Texas of the girl who died of measles

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary of the nation, took part in the funeral of an 8-year-old girl on Sunday, which died in the middle of an outbreak that was burned by the region and was questioned by measles and his ability to cope with a crisis in public healthcare.

The child’s death in a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, in the early Thursday morning, the second confirmed death by measles in the United States in a decade.

According to the New York Times, the child died of “measles -hitting failure”. The hospital, part of the UMC health system, confirmed death on Sunday and added that the girl was not vaccinated and had no underlying health states.

Mr. Kennedy awarded the girl’s family, but did not speak at the funeral ceremony, according to the people present.

“My intention was to come here quietly to comfort the families and to be together with the community at the moment of grief,” said Kennedy in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,” he added, referring to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

At the same time, Mr. Kennedy prompted a new examination whether the vaccine is causing autism, an assertion that was exposed by research a long time ago. And he stopped recommending universal vaccinations in communities in which the virus does not spread.

The first death in the outbreak into West texas was a non -vaccinated child who died in February. Another non -vaccinated person died in New Mexico after being tested positively on measles, although the officials did not confirm that measles were the cause of death.

Since the beginning of the outbreak at the end of January, West Texas has reported 480 cases of measles and 56 hospital stays. The outbreak has also spread to the border states that revoke 54 people in New Mexico and 10 in Oklahoma.

If the virus spreads further at this pace, the country endangers the fact that the status of measles excretion loses a hard-fought victory in 2000. Officials of public health in West-Texas said that the outbreak should probably exist for a year.

Shortly after the 8-year-old’s death, a number in the Antivaccine community accused the death of the hospital, which he claimed that he had “administered the case of medically medically”.

Child health defense, an anti-Accacine group that Herr Kennedy helped before his Minister of Health when founding health secretary, previously claimed that a “medical mistake” had led to the first measles death of the state in another hospital in Lubbock.

These unfounded experts arose that emphasized that the MMR vaccine is extremely effective when preventing measles infections and their complications.

“These are not medical mistakes,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, the epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota and former official of the Ministry of Health and Human Services. “This is exactly on the back of antivakinous voices that have continued to spread disinformation.”

Mr. Kennedy was heavily criticized to deal with the outbreak. As a prominent vaccine skeptic, he offered muffled support for vaccination and emphasized undestected measles treatments such as cod liver oil.

According to doctors in Texas, Mr. Kennedy has contributed to delaying the patient’s intensive care medicine and toxic vitamin -a by supporting alternative treatments. -to absorb values.

“This is a tragedy, an absolutely unnecessary death,” said Dr. Peter Marks, who was the top vaccine regulatory authority in the country until he resigned from the Food and Drug Administration last week, partly because of the treatment of measuring outbreak by Mr. Kennedy.

“So far, the federal reaction to the ongoing measles outbreak has been inappropriately concentrated on distracting and ineffective alternatives to the only really effective prevention – measles vaccine,” he said.

Experts also fear that the recent decisions of the Trump administration to disassemble the protective measures of international health and to promote the financing of the local health departments have made large, multi -state outbreaks more likely.

On Sunday, Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, who is a doctor and gave a critical coordination to confirm Mr. Kennedy, to vaccinate the public on social media, and added that “top health officers should clearly say this because another child dies.”

Measles are one of the most contagious pathogens. The virus can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left the room and spreads when a sick person breathes, coughs or sneezed.

Within a week or two after exposure, those who are infected can develop a high fever, cough, running nose and red, aqueous eyes. Within a few days, a treacherous rash breaks out as flat, red spots on the face and then spreads the neck and upper body onto the rest of the body.

In most cases, these symptoms dissolve in a few weeks. In rare cases, however, the virus causes pneumonia, which makes it difficult for patients, especially children, to bring oxygen into their lungs.

Measles can also lead to swelling of the brain, which can leave permanent problems such as blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities.

For all 1,000 children who receive measles, one or two of the centers for the control and prevention of diseases die. The virus also harms the body’s immune defense and makes it vulnerable to other pathogens.

Christina Jewett contributed the reporting.