((The hill) – Secretary for Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Personal visit to the family A Texan girl who died of measles seemed to mark a slight shift for the former anti-access activist who tried to downplay the seriousness of the outbreak.
Experts in public health and infectious diseases, which have alerted themselves through the hapless reaction of the measles of the Trump government, gave Kennedy a certain amount of recognition that the vaccine in the measles is the “most effective way to prevent the spread of the disease.
However, this message is undermined by Kennedy’s continued mixed messages, cuts for public health and the reduction in centers for the control and prevention of diseases (CDC).
“At least we see some signing that this administration understands that they have to react more appropriately,” said Jason Schwartz, Associate Professor and Vaccination Researcher at the Yale School of Public Health.
“It is encouraging that there was recognition of fundamental knowledge of public health, but it reminds us of how little we have included this administration about the advantages of vaccination,” added Schwartz. “It is remarkable that the recognition was the stuff of headlines.”
Kennedy said that the CDC has reissued a team to support the state and local officials with the outbreak, which has more than 500 people in Texas alone. It has also spread to a daycare center in Lubbock, where at least 6 children have tested positively on measles.
Katherine Wells, director of public health at the city of Lubbock, told reporters on Tuesday that one of her greatest concerns was a measles breakout for groups in need of protection such as children who are too juvenile to be vaccinated.
According to Wells, state and local health departments now recommend an early dose of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines (MMR) for infants between six and eleven months. They also work to ensure that children between the ages of 1 and 4 receive a second dose.
When asked about the severity of the outbreak on Sunday, President Trump stated that he was not very concerned.
“It is as far as a fairly small number of people in relation to what we are talking about,” he said. “It’s nothing new.”
“And we will see what happens, but if it makes progress, we have to take a very strong measures,” said Trump.
Kennedy indicated that the outbreak loosened, a fact that contradicts the local numbers.
Andrew Pavia, professor and pediatric expert for infectious diseases at the University of Utah, said that the administration does not take the outbreak seriously, and a social media post from the HHS -Secretary will not shorten it.
Pavia said the CDC was still disabled how it can react
“With an outbreak of this size, the help and leadership of CDC are essential, but it was largely not available. CDC should not act as a trustworthy voice or provide clinicians and the public will provide frequent updates,” he said.
In March, the CDC buried a measles forecast in which the need for vaccinations was emphasized. According to a report by Prublica. The managers ordered the employees not to release the expert evaluation that found that the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks in which the vaccination rates remain high.
The outbreak represents the first time that Kennedy had to reconcile his past as the leading critic of vaccines and his leadership of the federal health company.
So far, Kennedy has advertised margins about prevention and treatment such as the advantages of vitamin A and cod liver oil compared to the measles vaccine, which is the only proven possibility to prevent infection.
When he spoke about the shot, he classified him as a personal election and at the same time suggests that the vaccine can do as much damage as the disease itself.
Kennedy’s social media post only came after a second non -vaccinated child died of measles, and after a Top Republican said that “top health officer” should “clearly” promote vaccination.
“Everyone should be vaccinated! There is no treatment for measles. No use for measles,” said Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) In a post on the social platform X.
Cassidy, Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Work and Pensions of the Senate, had previously questioned Kennedy’s anti-Accycine past and worried about his ability to conduct HHS before he finally agreed to confirm it.
Hours after Kennedy’s post on X, in which he spoke about vaccinations, he also emphasized the work of two doctors who treated infected children with steroids and an antibiotic. Treatments that doctors say are ineffective and not recommended.
Trump called the doctors “extraordinary healers”. One of the doctors last month said in a podcast that the MMR vaccine “It is clear” that the MMR vaccine causes autism, a unmasked theory that Kennedy further promoted during his entire confirmation process.
Michael Osterholm, epidemiologist and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said that he was not surprised that Kennedy encouraged the advantages of measles shot for the countless doctors immediately after his most direct statement.
“Show me a pattern more responsibly, science-based statements, and I will have more understanding of where it is. But at the moment I don’t think that a statement will find out in any way how his approach to dealing with vaccine regulations is,” said Osterholm.
