At the beginning of February, Texas health officials indicated that measles spread among an island religious community in the county of Gaines, Texas, where Almost 14% of schoolchildren have an exemption (granted in certain states For reasons of conscience, including for religious beliefs) from the required infant vaccinations. The disease has since been detected in a county of New Mexico City. And this week, the number of cases has become At least 99 people. Last year, the United States saw 285 cases of measles nationwide – the highest fourth total since 2000.
The epidemic has increased and will probably soon exceed 100 cases, as is the first skeptic of the United States vaccines, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has assembled as senior health care.
Kennedy promises to probe the safety of infant vaccinesAnd in his first actions as a new US Secretary of Health and Social Services (HHS), Kennedy has already put Consulting meetings on vaccination on indefinite Hold. He helped cultivate a culture of skepticism towards medical science The most important voice Promote a demystified link between childhood vaccinations and autism and other health problems – a view This corresponds to the re -emergence of measles Over the past decade.
Kennedy is no longer an outdoor agitator, but the head of government is ultimately responsible for the crushing of public health threats to the United States.
So far, he has not commented on the Texas epidemic. But what is happening will be the first major test case for how Kennedy will direct the American health service during an active public health emergency.
What would the answer to an epidemic look like?
When there is an epidemic of diseases that requires government action (that is, not your standard sniffs), local governments are the first stakeholders. Comté officials are generally the first to receive propagation reports from the disease and they will start to speed up tests and other types of surveillance to assess the situation.
This is what happened in Texas: a school county school district reported The first measuring measures their local community at the end of January. In one week, the Government of the State of Texas intensified once the epidemic had climbed to six cases and began to provide support for the local response. It is also typical: although local authorities are on the front line, the State provides technical expertise, they can offer funding for communication and interventions (such as vaccines to pass), and they serve the main Authority on how the answer should be manipulated.
The federals generally remain in the background with an epidemic of the size of the current occurrence of measles. They can offer expert or laboratory support, for example. But if not, they support the players, unless the epidemic constitutes a single threat to the rest of the nation or becomes a great multi-state crisis. For the moment, the current epidemic is limited to a small geographical region, and the states seem well aligned on how to respond.
But it is possible that the additional propagation can require that federal officials get involved – a development is worth being closely monitored, given its new leadership.
The good news: so far, the HHS of RFK Jr. does not complicate the answer.
The epidemic was already underway before Kennedy’s confirmation and, although it is easy to forget after the pandemic, local authorities take the lead as they should. Texas health officials -and their counterparts in New Mexico, now that cases have started to spread there – have implemented mobile vaccination and test sites, encouraging Non -vaccinated people to get their photos now. Because local officials are part of the community they serve, they can be considered more trustworthy (and in turn They can ultimately be more effective).
If these efforts are allowed to continue without incident, it will be a sign of hope that the health service led by RFK JR. will not actively sabotage public health efforts when there is an acute crisis in progress. After a few observers sharp Outside that the CDC measles tracker had not been with the new epidemic, the web page was refreshed on Friday With a commitment to continue to update it every Friday.
Until now, there is no sign that local officials have requested the support of the federal government and have refused it.
Do I have to worry about the madness of measles more widely?
Not exactly. These epidemics are still relatively rare and, when they occur, they generally remain localized. But America East Trend in the wrong direction with regard to this old disease, which can cause painful rashes and be fatally for young non -vaccinated children.
The United States has declared measles eliminated in 2000. But it returned to the vaccination rates fell. In 2019, there has been the largest epidemic in decades when more than 1,200 people fell ill, mainly in New York. Now, nearly 100 people are sick along the Texas and New Mexico border – larger than any epidemic last year and it is still until February.
At the national level, the rate of vaccination of measles has slippery Just below the 95% target which, according to experts, is necessary to maintain immunity at the level of the population. In some states, the situation is more disastrous: 14 states had vaccination rates below 90% for the 2023-2024 school year, according to the health policy for the health policy Kff.
But in individual communities, rates can slide even lower, creating the right conditions for an epidemic to explode; Measles, after all, is One of the most contagious diseases known to humans. In the school county school district most affected by the epidemic, the vaccination rate is Less than 50%.
The vast majority of Americans believe The measles vaccine is safe and effective, and its advantages prevail over all risks. But as our collective faith in science deteriorateVaccination rates are also down.