Low vaccination rates contributed to the re-emergence of a disease declared eradicated in the US 25 years ago. A measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico has killed a child and sickened more than 130 people, and public health experts fear it’s only the beginning. It’s an entirely avoidable health emergency fueled by weaknesses in our vaccine forcefield.
It’s also not hard to imagine this type of emergency becoming much worse, much faster if Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, further undermines the safety of and access to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Troubling signs are already emerging that Kennedy, notorious for his vaccine misinformation, might influence the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s messaging and vaccine recommendations.