Kennedy attends funeral in Texas of girl who died of measles

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, attended the funeral Sunday of an 8-year-old girl who died of measles amid an outbreak that has burned through the region and called into question his ability to handle a public-health crisis.

The child’s death, in a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, early Thursday, is the second confirmed fatality from measles in a decade in the United States.

The child died of “measles pulmonary failure,” according to records obtained by The New York Times. The hospital, part of UMC Health System, confirmed the death later Sunday, adding that the girl was unvaccinated and had no underlying health conditions.

Kennedy conferred with the girl’s family but did not speak at the funeral ceremony, according to people in attendance.

“My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief,” Kennedy said in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,” he added, referring to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

At the same time, Kennedy has stopped short of recommending universal vaccination in communities where the virus is not spreading.

And he has ordered a reexamination of whether the vaccine causes autism, a claim long ago debunked by research, to be conducted by a well-known vaccine skeptic.

The first death in the West Texas outbreak was an unvaccinated child who died in February. Another unvaccinated person died in New Mexico after testing positive for measles, though officials have not confirmed that measles was the cause of death.

Since the outbreak began in late January, West Texas has reported 480 cases of measles and 56 hospitalizations. The outbreak has also spread to bordering states, sickening 54 people in New Mexico and 10 in Oklahoma.

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