A second unvaccinated child died over the weekend in the ongoing Texas measles outbreak, prompting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to bravely offer tepid support for the vaccine on social media.
“The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,” Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, wrote at the end of a post memorializing Daisy, an 8-year-old girl who died from what the Texas Department of State Health Services described as measles pulmonary failure.
The girl had no underlying conditions and was not vaccinated.
“I came to Gaines County, Texas, today to comfort the Hildebrand family after the loss of their 8-year-old daughter Daisy. I got to know the family of 6-year-old Kayley Fehr after she passed away in February,” Kennedy wrote on social media over the weekend.
Several paragraphs later, he said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was working to ensure pharmacies and state-run clinics have the MMR vaccine, adding, “The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.”
The 6-year-old was the first U.S. measles death since 2015. Measles is suspected to have played a role in the death of an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico a week later.
Following those deaths, Kennedy trumpeted cod liver oil as a treatment for the highly contagious disease, apparently because it contains high amounts of vitamin A. The vitamin can be used to treat measles in a medical setting but is not recommended by experts as an at-home treatment.
“Good nutrition remains a best defense against most chronic and infectious illnesses,” Kennedy wrote in an op-ed for Fox News addressing the outbreak. “Vitamins A, C, and D, and foods rich in vitamins B12, C, and E should be part of a balanced diet.”
He also bragged in a Fox News interview about the government’s efforts “delivering vitamin A” to west Texas. Children there are now being treated for vitamin A toxicity.
Kennedy last week laid off 10,000 workers at the nation’s top health department. According to The Associated Press, the entire office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests was shuttered, with additional hits virtually eliminating programs focused on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and air quality, and occupational safety and health.
At the Food and Drug Administration, the entire office that drafts regulations on e-cigarettes and other tobacco products was fired, in addition to other staffers who regulate drugs, food and medical devices.
“The FDA as we’ve known it is finished,” former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said, “with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed.”
This week, the health secretary will be on a “Make America Healthy Again” tour, with stops in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.