President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr., has said he visited Texas after learning that a second child had died from measles in the state.
Kennedy reportedly attended the child’s funeral on Sunday.
Daisy Hildebrand, an eight-year-old girl, died early Thursday morning from “measles pulmonary failure” while receiving treatment at a hospital in Lubbock, Texas.
Hers is the second death linked to a measles outbreak in West Texas, and the second in the United States in a decade. Dozens of people in the region, including in neighboring states, have been infected.
Kennedy posted this on X: “My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief.”
Despite his history as a vocal vaccine skeptic, Kennedy admitted that the MMR vaccine was the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.
“The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the M.M.R. vaccine,” he wrote in an email. “I spoke with Governor Abbott and offered HHS’s continued support. We redeployed CDC teams to Texas per his request. We will continue to follow Texas’ lead, providing similar resources to other affected jurisdictions.”
The UMC Health System stated on Sunday that the girl had not been immunized against the disease and had no underlying medical conditions that contributed to her death.
The region’s first death occurred in February, when an unvaccinated child died. A third death is possible: an unvaccinated person in New Mexico tested positive for measles. Health officials are still determining whether measles was the individual’s cause of death.
Since the outbreak began in January, West Texas has reported 480 cases of measles, with 56 people hospitalized. Infections have sickened 54 people in New Mexico and an additional ten in Oklahoma.
Public health officials in the region predict that the outbreak will last a year, jeopardizing the area’s measles elimination status, which it achieved in 2000.
Measles is highly contagious. It can remain in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left a room and spread via breath, coughs, or sneezes.
Measles symptoms, such as rashes, high fevers, coughs, runny noses, and red eyes, typically resolve within a few weeks. However, in rare cases, it can cause pneumonia, which is especially dangerous for children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems.
The disease may also cause brain swelling, which can result in blindness, deafness, and intellectual disabilities.
Kennedy has received criticism for his handling of the outbreak, particularly given that the HHS secretary is a vocal vaccine skeptic. He has been broadly supportive of the measles vaccine, but has also emphasized alternative and untested treatments for the disease, such as cod liver oil.
Doctors in Texas told the Times that Kennedy’s support for alternative treatments has contributed to some patients waiting for medical attention while consuming toxic levels of vitamin A.
Experts are concerned that the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding to local health departments will increase the risk of large, multi-state outbreaks. In an X post on Sunday, Kennedy stated that he would support Texas health officials in their efforts to contain the measles outbreak.
On Sunday, Dr. Peter Marks, who resigned from his position at the Food and Drug Administration overseeing the agency’s vaccine program, blamed Kennedy and his staff for the child’s death.
“This is the epitome of an absolute needless death,” Marks told the Associated Press on Sunday. “These kids should get vaccinated – that is how you prevent people from dying of measles.”
He told the Senate that if the Trump administration did not take more aggressive action to combat the outbreak, there would be more measles-related deaths.
The Senate health committee has scheduled Kennedy’s testimony for Thursday.
One of the committee members is Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor and vaccine supporter. Though he joined his Republican colleagues in confirming Kennedy during his hearing, he has taken a more strident stance on the need for vaccinations than the HHS secretary.
On Sunday, Cassidy stated that “everyone should be vaccinated.”
He reported that there was “no benefit to getting measles” and proposed that “top health officials should say so unequivocally [before] another child dies.”
As of Friday, the United States had more than 600 cases of measles this year, more than doubling the total number of cases in 2024.
Katherine Wells, Lubbock’s public health director, told NBC News that the actual number of infected people is likely much higher than what has been reported, as many of those infected may not be tested for the illness.
She stated that she and other health officials are pleading with parents to vaccinate their children against measles.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the MMR vaccine requires only two doses and is 97% effective. The MMR vaccine is safe and has been given to children for decades.
