Health secretary earlier said outbreak was ‘not unusual’ but with first US measles death in decade steps up response
Two days after initially downplaying the outbreak as “not unusual,” the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, on Friday said he recognizes the serious impact of the ongoing measles epidemic in Texas – in which a child died recently – and said the government is providing resources, including protective vaccines.
“Ending the measles outbreak is a top priority for me and my extraordinary team,” Kennedy – an avowed anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who for years has sown doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines – said in a post on X.
Kennedy said his federal Department of Health and Human Services would send Texas 2,000 doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine – typically meant to be given to children in a series of two shots at 12 to 15 months old as well as between the ages of four and six years old – through its immunization program.
New emergency number: dial 711, and the homeopath-helicopter will be dispatched to your location to administer emergency foot zone therapy and essential oils.
The government will be awarding a contract to Elon Musk to provide subsidized for-profit healing crystals to those with mandatory healing-crystal insurance.