The largest single measles outbreak the country has endured in more than 30 years is being hailed as a success story by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion article published Tuesday defending his overhaul of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Kennedy said the administration’s response to the outbreak that began in West Texas is a testament to what a “focused CDC can achieve.”
“The outbreak ended quickly, proving the CDC can act swiftly with precision when guided by science and freed from ideology,” Kennedy wrote, adding the response was “effective” because it wasn’t “distracted” by politically correct language or “equity outcomes.”
Local officials declared the outbreak officially over on Aug. 18. It hospitalized nearly 100 people in West Texas and killed two children. Infections linked to Texas spread across the Southwest to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Mexico’s Chihuahua state.
Throughout the outbreak, experts and officials said they felt Kennedy wasn’t taking it seriously. He touted fringe theories about prevention and treatment, like the benefits of vitamin A and cod liver oil over the measles vaccine, which is the only proven way to prevent infection.
When he did talk about the shot, he framed it as a personal choice while also suggesting the vaccine can cause just as much harm as the disease itself.
Phil Huang, director of the Dallas County Health Department, said the outbreak did not end because unvaccinated people changed their minds, but because it burned through all the vulnerable populations.
“We had two kids die, we had almost 100 hospitalizations, and who knows how many other kids were sick or ill,” Huang said. “I’ve worked with CDC for a long time … the accessibility and availability of CDC now is nothing like it has been in the past, or should be, and to claim that now this is the model for CDC is really it’s just not true.”
Kennedy’s op-ed Tuesday outlined his vision to “restore the CDC’s focus on infectious disease, invest in innovation, and rebuild trust through integrity and transparency,” though he did not offer details.
It comes after nine former CDC leaders joined together in a separate opinion article calling Kennedy a danger to public health, just days after he ousted the CDC’s new director, Susan Monarez.
The former directors expressed concern about the “wide-ranging impact” of Kennedy’s decisions at the agency, from firing thousands of health workers to canceling investments in medical research, replacing experts on advisory committees and ending support for global vaccination programs.
