Anti-vaxxers and RFK Jr dispute Texas measles deaths amid growing US outbreak
As US measles outbreaks expand—claiming eight lives in under two years following a decade without a child fatality—anti-vaccine figures and federal officials are disputing the causes of death. Following the deaths of a six-year-old and an eight-year-old girl during a Texas outbreak that infected at least 762 people, Children’s Health Defense, formerly led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, claimed the children died from medical malpractice and improper antibiotics rather than measles.
CHD scientific officer Brian Hooker filed complaints with the Texas medical board based on claims by physician Pierre Kory, who alleged medical mismanagement. In response, Lubbock Public Health director Katherine Wells and vaccine expert Paul Offit noted that secondary bacterial infections are common measles complications, arguing the campaign deliberately deflects from rising casualties to question vaccine safety while scapegoating pediatricians.
A similar playbook has emerged in Pennsylvania following recent deaths. Kennedy suggested Governor Josh Shapiro politicized the casualties, while National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz also questioned the fatalities. Experts caution that denying confirmed measles deaths undermines public health responses while exposing treating physicians to hostile investigations.
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