An unvaccinated child died of measles in West Texas, officials said Wednesday, marking the first death in an ongoing outbreak of the highly contagious respiratory illness. The child was one of 124 confirmed cases in this vaccine-preventable outbreak. Eighteen others have been hospitalized. The loss is a tragedy; the measles vaccine is 97 percent effective in preventing disease.
"It is no coincidence in my mind that [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] gets confirmed to be secretary of [the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)], and immediately we have a measles outbreak," said Polly Tommey in an interview with NBC News. Tommey is the programming director of Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccination advocacy group founded by RFK Jr. Tommey believes that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine caused her son's autism.
Indeed, Tommey could be right; it is perhaps no coincidence. After all, the already vaccine-hesitant parents of the infected kids in Texas live in a culture influenced by RFK Jr.'s long and sordid history of kooky and dangerous anti-vaccination agitation.
