The US is experiencing a dramatic rise in measles outbreaks, primarily in West Texas and New Mexico, along with isolated cases in 12 other states.
Measles were considered eliminated in the US in the year 2000. But 250 measles cases were reported across the country this year, all in children who were unvaccinated. The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that, as of March 11, 223 measles cases have been reported, with 29 hospitalizations and 2 deaths. The majority of cases are in Gaines County, Texas, home to a large number of Mennonites who reportedly do not follow government mandates.
All 50 states require K-12 children to receive the MMR vaccine before attending school, but parents can also claim religious exemptions to get around the requirement.
Cod Liver Oil Is Not a Cure
In a March 12 interview with Ethnic Media Services, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, explained the rise in measles cases, and noted the efficacy of the MMR vaccine. Chin-Hong also debunked several misconceptions about measles and cures promoted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Below are excerpts from the interview. The video contains the interview in full.
Dr. Chin-Hong, why are we seeing this uptick in measles cases right now?
PCH: So there are 2 reasons for the uptick in measles. The 1st is that there’s a lot of measles around the world, probably because of the lack of access to vaccinations, particularly in the pediatric population, during Covid.
Number 2: there’s a lot of increasing vaccine hesitancy in the United States. So if you look at the average, it doesn’t look terrible. We dipped below 95% at the kindergarten MMR vaccines. But if you look at some communities, like those in Texas where the measles outbreak is really at its full force, and some areas of New Mexico and Oklahoma, some of those vaccine rates are in the 70% or 80%. And you really need 95% to really protect the community from measles.
So some of it is again pandemic repercussion. But a lot of it is people’s own decisions not to vaccinate their kids and therefore putting the community at risk.
There’s been a dismissal of the severity of measles, with folks thinking it’s just a rash. Could you discuss the severity of the infection?
One per 1,000, or maybe 2 per 1,000 infections result in death. But it’s not only the deaths. There’s also a long measles version like long Covid, where you can get brain disease even after you recovered from measles. More children are being hospitalized.
The US Agency for International Development provided MMR vaccines to children around the world. Given that the agency has largely been disbanded, do you expect to see a global measles outbreak?
Well, it’s already happening. It’s just going to get worse. And it’s really foolhardy to think that it’s an ‘us vs. them’ problem. Infectious diseases know no borders. In fact, the vast majority of measles in the United States have been acquired from abroad.
So to cut efforts abroad is only going to come back to hurt us and and haunt us later on. That’s true not only for measles, but other diseases like tuberculosis, and even HIV, because it’s really a intersection of all of these factors that allow more infectious diseases to flourish.
Dr. Chin-Hong, could we examine some of HHS Secretary Kennedy’s statements regarding vaccines and measles treatments? First, is there a link to autism?
The scientific community and the medical community is really unanimous in thinking that there is no link between vaccines and autism, particularly the MMR vaccine.
Kennedy has also spoken about the benefits of cod liver oil as an effective treatment for measles. What would you say to that?
I think that’s been conflated with some of the evidence globally, where vitamin A can help with some of the complications of measles like blindness and a lot of the reasons why some kids may have complications because of poor nutrition. But there’s no evidence that kids in the United States have very similar issues.
There’s no treatment for measles. The only way to control measles is prevention. There’s no evidence that Vitamin A, or cod liver oil, treats measles.
Secretary Kennedy had also spoken about about a poor diet, characterizing Texas as a food desert. Is there a correlation between a poor diet and severity of a measles infection?
Yes, there is a correlation between nutrition and multiple infectious diseases, like the deaths we’ve seen in kids in sub-Saharan Africa. But that’s extreme malnutrition. It’s just not an American diet, even though there may be pockets of food insecurity in the United States.
Could you discuss ‘natural immunity,’ which many people are currently discussing as a way to avoid vaccines?
So what people talk about when they say natural immunity is that ‘I intentionally, or I get measles or chickenpox, for example, and it gives me protection for life.’ Which is true, I mean acquiring infection naturally like smallpox or you know, even Mpox, chickenpox and measles can give you immunity for a very, very long time, if not lifelong.
But the problem is all of the consequences that we talked about. You can’t predict who’s going to die, who’s going to be hospitalized, or who’s going to get blind or brain infection.
We are lucky to have these very effective tools available. So we don’t have to play measles roulette and figure out who’s going to get hospitalized or get a brain infection or die. Because it’s not really predictable.
So if I had a chance between exposing my kids to measles or chickenpox or getting them vaccines, 1 million percent, I’ll say getting the vaccine.
