Measles cases continue to spread as RKF Jr. slashes public health staff

As the measles outbreak ravages Odessa, Texas, local resident Jennifer Sanchez schedules vaccine appointments for her children.

Kansas has joined Texas in the ongoing measles outbreak, with 23 confirmed cases across six counties. Of those cases, 20 are in unvaccinated patients, and all but two are children. 

On March 13, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment confirmed the state’s first measles case since 2018.

The Texas outbreak, now at 327 confirmed cases across 15 counties, has spread into New Mexico, where officials report 43 confirmed cases. 

The Kansas cases “have a possible link to the outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico,” according to the Kansas health department.

The main culprit is the decline in national measles vaccination rates, which have continued to decline over the past decade as deadly fear-mongering is spread by anti-vaxxers like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

The Kansas school districts most affected by the outbreak so far also have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the state.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the Kansas Legislature have passed a bill to expand religious exemptions for vaccines that are required in childcare facilities. 

And on Thursday, Kennedy announced that HHS plans to slash the federal health workforce by almost 24 percent, and he has hired an anti-vaxxer crackpot to research a thoroughly debunked connection between childhood autism and vaccines. 

With an anti-vaxxer—who has demonstrated a perilous lack of ability—leading the country’s health agencies, the measles crisis will surely continue its spread.