The death comes as immunization rates decline nationwide, with the latest cases concentrated in a Mennonite religious community that has historically shown vaccine hesitancy.
“The school-aged child who was not vaccinated was hospitalized in Lubbock last week and tested positive for measles,“ the state health department said in a statement, with city officials adding the child died “within the last 24 hours.”
Around 20 have been hospitalized in Texas, and officials warn the outbreak is likely to grow.
He also stated the death toll as two -- but neither the Texas nor New Mexico health departments said they knew of any additional fatality.
Lara Johnson, chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas where the child was treated, told reporters that when she graduated from medical school in 2002, “I was confident I would never see a measles outbreak unless I chose to work internationally.”
The outbreak’s epicenter is Gaines County, home to a large Mennonite community, a Christian sect related to the Amish.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a 95 percent vaccination rate to maintain “herd immunity.”
The last US measles-related death was in 2015, when a woman in Washington state died from pneumonia caused by the virus. She had been vaccinated but was taking immunosuppressive medication. Before that, the previous recorded measles death was in 2003.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.
During outbreaks, about one in five infected individuals requires hospitalization, and one in 20 develops pneumonia. In rare cases, measles leads to brain swelling and can be fatal.
Before the measles vaccine’s introduction in 1963, it is thought that millions of Americans contracted the disease annually, and several hundred died. While measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, outbreaks persist each year.
RFK Jr. has repeatedly and falsely linked the MMR vaccine to autism, a claim thoroughly debunked by scientific research.
In one of his first actions as health secretary, the federal health department postponed a routine meeting of an independent advisory panel that makes vaccine recommendations to the CDC.
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