An unvaccinated child in Texas has died of measles, the first death associated with measles in the United States in over a decade.
A Lubbock city spokesperson confirmed the death to Fwrd Axis News on Wednesday evening.
In a press release, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said the child was hospitalized in Lubbock last week and tested positive for measles.
124 cases of measles have been confirmed associated with the outbreak, according to data from DSHS.
The DSHS said all cases are among those who are unvaccinated or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, and 18 people have been hospitalized so far.
Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases.
During Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting at the White House, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was asked about the outbreak and said the agency was following the cases in Texas.
Kennedy appeared to downplay the outbreak.
“It’s not unusual; we have measles outbreaks every year,” he said.
However, that is a lie. The number of cases in Texas amounts to nearly half of the 285 cases confirmed in 2024.
Health officials are urging anyone who isn’t vaccinated to receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. The CDC currently recommends people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
On Monday, DSHS warned that people may have been exposed to measles in central or south-central Texas associated with the outbreak in the western part of the state.
“A person from the outbreak area who was later diagnosed with measles visited locations in the San Marcos and San Antonio areas the weekend of Feb. 14-16 while they were contagious,” DSHS wrote in an update on its website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 93 cases in eight states so far this year in Alaska, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and Texas.
