Texas Measles Outbreak Grows To 146 Cases

Houston’s ABC affiliate reports:

On Friday morning, the state reported that 146 cases in nine counties have been identified since late January. Twenty of the patients have been hospitalized, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., , said Wednesday that HHS is watching cases and dismissed the Texas outbreak as “not unusual.”

He appeared to misstate a number of facts, including a claim that most who had been hospitalized were there only for “quarantine.” Dr. Lara Johnson at Covenant contested that characterization. “We don’t hospitalize patients for quarantine purposes,” said Johnson, the chief medical officer.

Read the full article. The unvaccinated child who died earlier this week was the country’s first measles death in over 30 years.

As the measles outbreak in TX has grown to 146 cases, 20 hospitalizations, and one death, and has spread outside the state, we could reasonably expect that the HHS Secretary would be out front messaging about the importance of vaccines. But RFK Jr. has spent two decades lying about MMR vaccine, so.

— Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD (@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 10:35 AM