The country’s health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a 8 -year -old girl who died of measles in the midst of a epidemic that burned the region and questioned the ability to address a public health crisis on Sunday attended the funeral.
The death of the child, on Thursday morning in a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, the second death in the United States in the United States in a decade.
According to the records obtained by the New York Times, the girl died of “measles pulmonary failure .. The hospital, which is a part of the UMC health system, confirmed his death later on Sunday and added that the girl was not vaccinated and that there were no underlying health conditions.
Mr. Kennedy met with the girl’s family, but according to people in participation, he did not speak at the funeral.
Kennedy, in a message previously published on Twitter, X, “My intention was to comfort families and to come quietly to be with the community instantly,” he said.
Measles, pumpkin and measles referring to the vaccine, “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is MMR vaccine,” he added.
At the same time, Mr. Kennedy gave up proposing universal vaccine in communities where the virus was not spread.
And he ordered the re -examination of the vaccine as a well -known vaccine, a well -known vaccine, a claim that was rejected by research long ago.
A black dressed crowd gathered on Sunday in front of an unprocessed church in Seminol, Texas. In a adjacent building, a group of women stepped back and forth, some were carrying babies in their arms.
The children ran outside the parking lot, laughing and smiling, waiting for a white funeral to leave. In the church, Mr. Kennedy spoke to the family before leaving a narrow rural road, but did not make a public statement.
A woman who does not want to be defined in a nearby park, “the news is not as bad as they show,” he said. “Not so healthy,” the children vaccinated, he added.
The first death in the Western Texas epidemic was an unaccredual child who died in February. After the authorities had positive testing for measles, another vaccinated person died in New Mexico, but the authorities did not confirm that the measles were the cause of death.
Since the epidemic began in late January, the West Texas reported 480 measles and 56 hospitals. The epidemic also spread to the border states by disturbing 54 people in New Mexico and 10 people in Oklahoma.
If the virus continues to spread at this speed, the country faces the risk of losing the elimination of measles, a challenging victory in 2000. Public Health officials in Western Texas, the outbreak will continue for a year, he said.
Shortly after the death of the 8 -year -old child, a figure in the Antivakcine community accused the death in the hospital, where he claimed to be “inappropriate”.
Previously, the defense of the health of the children, a group of antivakin, whom Mr. Kennedy had helped to establish years before without a health secretary, claimed that the “medical error” in a different hospital in Lubbock led to the first mezamık death of the state.
These unfounded claims triggered experts emphasizing that MMR vaccine is extremely effective in preventing measles and complications.
He is an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota and a former official in the Department of Health and Human Services. Michael Oterholm said, “These are not medical mistakes,” he said. “This stands behind the antivakin sounds that continue to spread disinformation.”
Mr. Kennedy encountered a strong criticism for dealing with his outbreak. An important vaccine skeptic, offered quiet support for vaccination and stressed unmarried measles treatments like liver oil.
According to doctors in Texas, Mr. Kennedy’s approval of alternative therapies contributed to the delay of critical care and swallowing vitamin A toxic levels.
“This is a tragedy, a tragedy, is absolutely unnecessary death,” he said, until Mr. Kennedy took off the measles until he resigned from the Food and Pharmaceutical Administration last week.
“To date, the federal reaction to the ongoing measles epidemic has been focused on distinct and ineffective alternatives, which is really really effective prevention,” he said.
Experts are also afraid that the Trump administration’s decisions of eliminating international public health measures and making financing from local health departments make great multi -stage outbreaks more likely.
On Sunday, a Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy encouraged the public on social media To fly, he added that “high -level medical staff is so clear that B/4 another child died”.
Measles are one of the most contagious pathogens. The virus may stand in the air for up to two hours after a person who is infected and a sick person breathes, coughing or sneezing.
Those who have been exposed within one or two weeks, infected, can develop high fever, cough, nose and red, juicy eyes. Within a few days, a narrative rash explodes as flat, red spots on the face and then spreads the neck and body to the rest of the body.
In most cases, these symptoms improve within a few weeks. However, in rare cases, the virus causes pneumonia and makes it difficult for patients to take oxygen to their lungs, especially children.
Measles may also cause a brain swelling that can leave permanent problems such as blindness, deafness and mental obstacles.
According to the disease control and prevention centers, one or two people will die for every 1000 children receiving measles. The virus also damages the body’s immune defenses and leaves it vulnerable to other pathogens.
Patel said CDC is trying to expand its team in the region in the near future.
Christina jewett Reporting contributed.
