While Texas continues to add dozens of measles confirmed every week, health officials and state representatives stimulate the alarm compared to CDC cuts which could hinder efforts to end the epidemic.
Ari Shapiro, host:
Thousands of people have been dismissed from the Ministry of Health and Social Services today. This affects medical research, Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These CDC cuts could assign the response to the measles epidemic that started in western Texas. David Martin Davies, from Texas Public Radio, is there to explain. Hi.
David Martin Davies, byline: Hey, Ari.
Shapiro: How could these CDC cuts affect efforts to combat the measles epidemic in Texas?
Davies: Well, for an epidemic to end, there should be three things – contact tracing, tests and vaccinations. The concern is that all these elements will be reduced and that the virus will continue to spread. Today, there has been an update on the number of confirmed measles of measles in western Texas. It went to 422. Almost every infected person has not been vaccinated. I spoke with Terra Burke, president of the Texas for non -profit organization, the vaccination project (PH). She said that state health services are lost, including for vaccination programs and for tests in the measles epidemic.
Terri Burke: It is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Thus, the impact on the epidemic of measles seems to be substantial.
Davies: Texas health officials have published a statement saying that the cancellation of CDC subsidies had no impact on the state response to the measles epidemic.
Shapiro: seems contradictory there. So what happens when the vaccination and test programs are cut?
Davies: Well, we know the answer to this because it happened before in the 1980s. The result was a national epidemic of measles in 1989, with 123 deaths across the country. Dr. Adam Ratner warns a rehearsal. He is a pediatrician and author of the new book, “Booster Shots: The urgent lessons of measles and the uncertain future of children’s health”.
Adam Ratner: What’s going on in Texas now is a choice. The idea that we had a child to die of measles in the United States in 2025 is crazy.
Davies: Ratner said the country should invest more in public health at the moment and no less.
Shapiro: There is also a new concern with this epidemic where some children receive toxic levels of vitamin A by their parents. Explain what’s going on there.
Davies: Yes, vitamin A. Last week, the Lubbock hospital, The Covenant House, confirmed to me that children with complications of measles are admitted for treatment, and they must also be treated for vitamin A overdoses, and that caused liver problems for these children. Vitamin A in small doses is used as support care in measles epidemics. Here’s what Dr. David Higgins said. He is a pediatrician and researcher at the medical campus of the University of Colorado Anschutz.
David Higgins: We know that if someone is deficient in vitamin A, it can lead to less good results. And it is for this reason that the World Health Organization, they recommend a vitamin A supplementation for children with measles.
Davies: Disinformation has spread online that vitamin A can prevent measles, which it cannot. It can be linked to the Secretary of Health and Social Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has history of disinfusion of medical disinformation on vaccines. He has enthusiastically promoted the use of vitamin A to treat measles. He even appeared on Fox News praising his advantages. But the overuse of vitamin A has these serious consequences. And again – I have to emphasize – the only thing that can prevent measles is this vaccine.
Shapiro: It’s David Martin Davies of Texas Public Radio. THANKS.
Davies: Thank you.
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