[Source: Reuters]

U.S. pediatricians and infectious disease experts say the fight against rising measles cases nationwide is being hampered by a lack of forceful advocacy for vaccination from government health officials and statements on unproven treatments that are confusing parents.

Since January, 505 people have been infected in Texas and more than 90 total in neighboring New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Two children have died in Texas, including an 8-year-old girl last week, and an adult death in New Mexico is under investigation.

The United States has more than 600 known cases and outbreaks in six states, according to HHS.

Dr. Sue Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said leaders need to speak with a consistent science- and fact-based message about measles vaccination, calling that the only way to handle an outbreak like this.

“That is the number one message we’re trying to put in front of everyone.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of advocating against vaccines, has backed vaccination as the best way to prevent measles from spreading since becoming the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

But unlike previous health secretaries faced with containing outbreaks, his comments are not unequivocal. He has also made misleading claims about nutrition, vitamin A and other treatments, while exaggerating vaccine risks, even as U.S. vaccination rates are falling.

“Our work is becoming harder by the minute,” said Dr. Rana Alissa, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Florida chapter, a state where kindergarten vaccination rates last school year were 81%, far below the 95% needed to establish community protection.

An HHS spokesman in a statement disputed that there was a lack of strong federal messaging, saying Kennedy has repeatedly reinforced the important role of vaccines. The spokesman said HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been monitoring the situation and are collaborating with state and local health authorities, including by providing resources.

“Secretary Kennedy remains committed to ensuring Americans have accurate information on all available treatment options,” the statement said.

In an interview on CBS News on Wednesday, Kennedy repeated that it was his and the government’s position that people should get the measles vaccine.

On Sunday, however, he followed a post on X championing the vaccine with another praising alternative treatments, drawing fresh criticism from disease experts.

The CDC, the nation’s lead agency on infectious disease outbreaks which reports to Kennedy, has made just two official public statements and provided a weekly tally of cases on its website. HHS said the CDC has issued statements and updates as needed.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the CDC needs to conduct frequent press conferences and issue multiple press releases urging Americans to vaccinate their children.

In 2019, when a New York measles outbreak recorded 1,274 cases, CDC officials did just that and New York City made the vaccine mandatory, issuing summonses to families who failed to comply.

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