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(Hill) – Measles outbreaks currently exceed 700 reported cases in the United States, increasing pressure on Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to control the fatal virus.
Overall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 712 new cases have been reported in Kansas, Ohio and Indiana. Data is spread across 25 states per data.
The rise comes after Kennedy proposed at the White House cabinet meeting earlier this week that the incident was stagnant.
The Lonely Star condition still has the most outbreaks, with 514 confirmed cases. The state added 36 new cases earlier this week, according to the latest tally from the Texas Department of Health. Gaines County alone has reported 355 outbreaks.
Since the outbreak of measles began to spread in Texas earlier this year, at least 56 people have been hospitalized with complications from the virus. Two school-age children in the state died of infection. Neither of them had been vaccinated and the underlying conditions were unknown.
Kennedy visited Gaines County to comfort the family of an eight-year-old girl who died of illness. The HHS secretary has touted the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine as the “most effective” way to prevent the spread of measles.
“My intention was to come quietly here to comfort my family and be with the community in moments of sadness,” said Kennedy, facing criticism of the department’s response to the outbreak and his previous attitude towards childhood vaccines.
Case numbers in other states are also rising.
The New Mexico tally has risen to 58, with six reported by people carrying at least a dozen vaccines, the New Mexico Department of Health reported. One death in the state is being investigated after a deceased resident tested positive for measles. They were also not vaccinated, according to the CDC.
In Kansas, the number of cases is 32, half of which are between the ages of five and 17, data from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment shows.
The Indiana Department of Health says that six cases of measles have been reported in Indiana so far, with all of them found in Allen County.
Despite facing a blow from the initial response to the outbreak, Kennedy was praised for the MMR vaccine as “the most effective way to prevent the spread of viral infections.”
“This administration has signed at least some of the things it understands we need to respond better,” Jason Schwartz, a vaccine researcher at Yale School of Public Health, told Hill.
“While there is an awareness of basic public health knowledge is encouraging, it reminds me that I have rarely heard from this administration about the benefits of vaccination,” Schwartz added. “It’s worth noting that the acknowledgements are like headlines.”
This outbreak is the first time Kennedy has had to settle his past as a leading critic of the vaccine since he took on the leadership role, as fund cuts under the Trump administration hit public health offices working to track and prevent illness.
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