WASHINGTON — Late Wednesday, Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) tore into Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for downplaying a toddler’s loss of life in a measles outbreak in Texas, saying she blames Kennedy for the tragedy due to his lengthy report of spreading disinformation about vaccines.
State well being officers confirmed Wednesday that an unvaccinated youngster in rural West Texas had died amid the outbreak, changing into the primary U.S. loss of life from measles since 2015. Measles is very contagious however preventable with vaccines. Requested later in the identical day in regards to the unnamed youngster’s loss of life in the course of the first Cupboard assembly of President Donald Trump’s new administration, Kennedy mentioned solely that measles outbreaks are “not unusual” and that “we’ve measles outbreaks yearly.”
Schrier, who’s a pediatrician, mentioned she was surprised by Kennedy’s response.
“He’s stuffed with, you may put 4 letters there,” she instructed HuffPost. “Begins with an ‘S.’”
The truth that a toddler has died from a vaccine-preventable illness is “devastating,” Schrier mentioned. “And by the best way, I do blame him and others like him who, for the previous 20 years, have been spreading lies about vaccines, that are protected and efficient. And that has been confirmed repeatedly. That is settled science.”
A spokesperson for the Division of Well being and Human Companies didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
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As of Tuesday, the Texas Division of State Well being Companies has reported 124 cases of measles since late January, the most important outbreak the state has seen in practically 30 years. The overwhelming majority of those circumstances are youngsters, and all however 5 of those circumstances are in people who find themselves unvaccinated or with an unknown vaccination standing.
Measles vaccines had been first developed in the 1960s after which mixed with vaccines for mumps and rubella within the Seventies. Measles was thought of eradicated within the U.S. in 2000. However there have been outbreaks occasionally, and Schrier mentioned it’s due to individuals like Kennedy, who has a excessive profile and has denigrated vaccines dozens of times.
He has repeatedly promoted the false declare that vaccines trigger autism, one thing he did as not too long ago as 2023 in a Fox News interview. In a podcast interview that same year, Kennedy mentioned, “There’s no vaccine that’s protected and efficient.” In 2021, he urged individuals to “resist” guidelines issued by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention on when youngsters ought to get vaccinated.
Throughout a 2019 measles epidemic in Samoa that left 80 youngsters lifeless, Kennedy wrote to the nation’s prime minister, falsely claiming the measles vaccine was most likely inflicting the deaths.
“Individuals like him preserve telling weak dad and mom that there’s one thing improper with vaccines,” Schrier mentioned. “They’re preying on these dad and mom, and that has a direct line to the loss of life of this youngster.”
The Washington state congresswoman additionally took purpose at senators who voted this month to verify Kennedy to his highly effective submit atop HHS, regardless of understanding he spent a long time rejecting science and pushing conspiracies about childhood vaccines inflicting autism. Kennedy was confirmed on a party-line vote, apart from one Republican who voted no: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a childhood polio survivor.
Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.), who’s a doctor and chairs the Senate’s high well being committee, briefly waffled on whether or not he would help Kennedy’s nomination. He particularly raised issues about Kennedy’s report of spreading lies about vaccine security. However ultimately, he supported him.
A Cassidy spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for remark about Kennedy downplaying the measles epidemic in Texas.
“Each Republican senator who voted to verify him as secretary of Well being and Human Companies knew that this was going to occur,” Schrier mentioned, referring to the kid who died from measles.
Bloomberg through Getty Photographs
Scientists are already on edge about the opportunity of Kennedy utilizing his place to sow doubts about vaccines. On Wednesday, a panel of scientific specialists that advises the Meals and Drug Administration on vaccine coverage discovered that its upcoming assembly to debate subsequent yr’s flu vaccines had been canceled. No cause was given.
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Schrier mentioned measles is “one of the crucial contagious illnesses I’ve ever handled” as a pediatrician. The Texas outbreak is especially worrisome, she famous, because it has unfold into New Mexico and has well being officers on excessive alert in Louisiana ― Cassidy’s dwelling state.
“There have been outbreaks, however it is a massive one,” she mentioned. “And [Kennedy] has contributed to it.”
