It’s hard out there for the facts.
While the most serious measles epidemic in a decade has led to the deaths of two children and spread to 27 states with no signs of letting up, beliefs about the safety of the measles vaccine and the threat of the disease are sharply polarized, fed by the anti-vaccine views of the country’s seniormost health official.
About two-thirds of Republican-leaning parents are unaware of an uptick in measles cases this year while about two-thirds of Democratic ones knew about it, according to a KFF survey released Wednesday.
Republicans are far more skeptical of vaccines and twice as likely (1 in 5) as Democrats (1 in 10) to believe the measles shot is worse than the disease, according to the survey of 1,380 U.S. adults.
Some 35% of Republicans answering the survey, which was conducted April 8-15 online and by telephone, said the discredited theory linking the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism was definitely or probably true — compared with just 10% of Democrats.
The trends are roughly the same as KFF reported in a June 2023 survey. But in the new poll, 3 in 10 parents erroneously believed that vitamin A can prevent measles infections, a theory Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought into play since taking office during the measles outbreak.
About 900 cases have been reported in 27 U.S. states, mostly in a West Texas-centered outbreak.
“The most alarming thing about the survey is that we’re seeing an uptick in the share of people who have heard these claims,” said co-author Ashley Kirzinger, associate director of KFF’s Public Opinion and Survey Research Program. KFF is a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.
“It’s not that more people are believing the autism theory, but more and more people are hearing about it,” Kirzinger said. Since doubts about vaccine safety directly reduce parents’ vaccination of their children, “that shows how important it is for actual information to be part of the media landscape,” she said.
“This is what one would expect when people are confused by conflicting messages coming from people in positions of authority,” said Kelly Moore, president and CEO of Immunize.org, a vaccination advocacy group.
Numerous scientific studies have established no link between any vaccine and autism. But Kennedy has ordered HHS to undertake an investigation of possible environmental contributors to autism, promising to have “some of the answers” behind an increase in the incidence of the condition by September.
Putting liars into positions of authority surely doesn’t help with this. Maybe copious amounts of mockery such phony authorities can help, but I feel like it will take a lot more than that. I’m not smart enough to know what a fix might be.
I don’t have any other news items, so let’s just get right to the numbers.
The measles outbreak centered in the South Plains region of Texas grew to 663 cases on Tuesday, according to health officials.
The latest update from the Texas Department of State Health Services adds 17 new cases since the agency’s last update on Friday. More than 95% of cases seen during the outbreak have been in individuals who have not received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or whose vaccination status is unknown.
The latest update adds 23 hospitalizations that had not been reported earlier in the outbreak, increasing the total number of hospitalizations to 87, the DSHS said. More than 13% of cases have resulted in hospitalizations, and two children, an 8-year-old girl and a 6-year-old girl, died after contracting the virus.
The DSHS estimates that fewer than 10 of the Texans who have contracted measles — less than 1% of the total — are actively infectious. An individual may be infectious up to four days before a rash appears and up to four days after it’s gone.
Texas has also seen 30 measles cases in 2025 that are not connected to the outbreak, most of them associated with international travel, according to the DSHS. Four have been in Harris County, one was in Fort Bend County and one was in Brazoria County.
Ten of the 17 new cases reported on Tuesday are in El Paso County, which has now seen 32 cases associated with the outbreak.
Gaines County reported three new cases. The county has seen the lion’s share of infections with 396 in total, nearly 60% of all cases associated with the outbreak.
Lamar County also reported three new cases, increasing its total to 17. Lubbock County reported one new case, bringing its total to 48.
The DSHS said there is ongoing measles transmission in 10 counties: Cochran, Dallam, Dawson, Gaines, Garza, Lynn, Lamar, Lubbock, Terry and Yoakum.
Of the 663 cases in Texas, 200 have been in children younger than 5 years old and 245 have been in children and teens between 5 and 17, according to the DSHS.
Only 28 cases — about 4% of all cases associated with the outbreak — have been in people who received at least one dose of MMR vaccine prior to an infection.
The DMN has more.
Ten counties remain under “ongoing measles transmission” status: Cochran, Dallam, Dawson, Gaines, Garza, Lynn, Lamar, Lubbock, Terry and Yoakum.
The state’s update does not include a confirmed measles case in Collin County reported by health officials on April 23. That case, which involved a student who attends Willow Springs Middle School in Lucas — part of the Lovejoy Independent School District — is this year’s first instance of measles in a child in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It was not immediately clear whether the child’s measles case was connected to the ongoing outbreak that began in Gaines County in West Texas.
Earlier this month, an adult in Rockwall County who had recently traveled to West Texas tested positive for measles. It was not immediately clear if this person’s illness is connected to the outbreak, according to a public health alert issued by the county’s health authority.
The first confirmed measles case in Rockwall County, which was reported in late February, is not believed to be connected to the West Texas outbreak either.
Measles cases in Oklahoma and Mexico are linked to the West Texas outbreak. Tuesday’s update does not include the rise of viral cases in these two states. New Mexico reported 66 cases as of April 25, and Oklahoma reported 12 cases as of Tuesday. Together with Texas, the measles outbreak has grown to 741 cases.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I continue to be worried about El Paso, and until further notice I’m now worried about Collin County. I hope my fears are overblown.
Something I didn’t know about RFK jr. that explains a lot about his weirdness- he does not believe in germ theory! That means he doesn’t believe that bacteria and viruses are a cause of illness. It is unfathomable that this guy got into the office he is in. Thanks Republicans!
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/04/rfk-jr-s-anti-vaccine-stance-is-rooted-in-a-disbelief-in-germ-theory/