The tentacles of disinformation have already claimed their first young victim. This week, an unvaccinated child in Texas died of measles – an entirely preventable disease. Right now, the state is seeing its largest measles outbreak in more than 30 years. Yet at a White House briefing, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of health and human services, falsely noted “it is not unusual”, and did not offer any plans for containment.
I am a pediatrician in Texas, and I can assure you the situation is so abnormal that most younger physicians have never seen a case of measles, thanks to successful vaccination campaigns.
