Via Axios: U.S. measles cases surpass last year’s total: Tracker.
The U.S. measles case count for this year has surged past last year’s total and now stands at 2,295 — a level that hasn’t been seen in 35 years, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker that compiles state and local health data.
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The majority of cases are in unvaccinated people. While overall measles vaccination rates are still relatively high, public health officials say they must remain above 95% to maintain herd immunity.
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Jurisdictions including South Carolina, Utah, Texas, Florida and Arizona have the most reported cases.
While I do not adhere to the notion that the federal government is magical and whatever happens can be ascribed to its powers, the reality is that it is no coincidence that this is all happening with an anti-vaccine Secretary of Health and Human Services embedded in an administration that doesn’t take public health seriously.
Kennedy has actively spread skepticism about vaccines and continues to assert that they are connected to causing autism.
Even when he has made statements in support of the measles vaccine specifically, they are hardly full and forceful endorsements. For example (via Factcheck.org).
“We should have informed choice, and — but if people don’t want it, they shouldn’t be — the government shouldn’t force them to do it,” Kennedy said of vaccination in a March 11, 2025, interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, a little more than a month into a measles outbreak in West Texas. “There are adverse events from the vaccine. It does cause deaths every year. It causes — it causes all the illnesses that measles itself causes, encephalitis and blindness, etc. And so, people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves. And — and what we need to do is give them the best information, encourage them to vaccinate. The vaccine does stop the spread of the disease.”
The MMR vaccine is a very safe vaccine, and there isn’t evidence it causes deaths “every year.” While serious side effects can occur, they are rare. Because the vaccine contains a live but weakened virus, it can in extremely rare cases lead to a measles infection that can be severe or fatal in someone who is severely immunocompromised. For this reason, the vaccine is not supposed to be given to anyone who has a serious immunodeficiency. The Infectious Diseases Society of America notes on its website that there have been “no deaths shown to be related to the MMR vaccine in healthy people.”
Even when Kennedy has said that he recommends the vaccine — usually only when asked directly or pressed to do so — he limited the endorsement to certain groups or undercut it by offering other inaccurate information that could discourage vaccination.
In his first non-Fox network TV interview as secretary, Kennedy did say when asked that it was his position and the federal government’s position that “people should get the measles vaccine.”
“But,” he added, “the government should not be mandating those.” He went on to misleadingly say that the risks of vaccines are unknown because they are not adequately safety tested. (It is up to individual states to determine the vaccinations required to attend school; while all states as of 2025 require the MMR vaccine, it is not mandated at the federal level.)
All of that is enough to create enough doubt and reinforce existing resistance in some populations to having their children immunized.
Telling people that, sure, you should get the shot, but it might kill you, so be informed! is far cry from an active campaign telling people that getting the shot saves lives–which is what any normal administration, R or D, would be doing right now in the face of these numbers.
Competent government matters.
See also our inability to figure out the cause of the cyclosporiasis outbreak and concerns over our ability to deal with the screwworms in cattle in Texas. So, a hearty thank-you to Musk’s wood chipper at DOGE for cutting staff indiscriminately because who needs government?
Does this headline from ABC News inspire confidence? RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis outbreak is ‘under control’ amid at least 1,600 cases in 5 states.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News on Tuesday that the multi-state cyclosporiasis outbreak in the U.S. is “under control.”
It marks one of the first times Kennedy has commented publicly on the parasitic intestinal illness since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was investigating the outbreak along with federal and local health partners.
“We do have the outbreak under control,” Kennedy said. “We have an extensive forensics, epidemiological forensics, and we’ve identified the source of the outbreak. We and the companies that are involved have implemented a recall.”
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In a letter sent to Kennedy last week, Ossoff said the CDC’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, known as FoodNet, no longer requires reporting the parasite that causes cyclosporiasis.
The CDC ended mandatory reporting last year. Beginning July 1, 2025, reporting became optional for all pathogens except Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, according to the CDC.
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Ossoff asked why Cyclospora tracking through FoodNet was terminated and if the CDC has restored tracking.
Kennedy told ABC News criticisms of the federal response are “invalid” saying they’re “still doing surveillance in this space.”
“We had no cuts in our surveillance program. We did cuts in the FoodNet program, but they were for redundant surveillance,” Kennedy said. “And all this space will tell you that we’re still doing forensics. We’re still doing surveillance in all this space.”
I ask again, who needs government anyway?
