Authorities in Texas confirmed on Wednesday that an unvaccinated child had died from influenza, marking the first US accident in almost a century. The fatality comes as a growing epidemic, which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has downplayed despite growing problems.
The accident occurs during a time when the immunization rate is decreasing across the nation, with recent cases primarily affecting a Moravian religious group who has usually been resistant to getting shots.
This development coincides with Kennedy’s appointment as health secretary, notable for his history of spreading incorrect information about the measles, mumps, and rubella ( MMR ) vaccine.
The state health department stated in a news release that the school-aged kid who was not vaccinated was hospitalized in Lubbock last week and tested positive for measles.
Lubbock town officials confirmed the boy’s dying “within the next 24 hours”.
Since the start of the season, more than 130 measles cases have been reported in west Texas and the surrounding New Mexico, primarily affecting uninsured children. In Texas, eighteen people have required hospitalisation, with wellness officials predicting further spread.
During a President Donald Trump government meeting, Kennedy diminished the circumstance, stating,” It’s hardly unexpected. Every season, there are measles outbreaks.
He cited two deaths, but neither the Texas nor the New Mexico health ministries independently verified any further fatalities.
It was only a matter of time before a measles outbreak would occur, infectious disease doctor Amesh Adalja of Johns Hopkins University told AFP.” While many measles outbreaks have not led to a dying, there have been no deaths in the United States,” said Adalja.
” Influenza still kills over 100, 000 people every year globe. The death may serve as a reminder that there was a reason the vaccine was developed and that people can benefit from it,” Adalja said.
” These incidents are almost totally preventable”, he added.
The pandemic centres on Gaines County, residence to a large Moravian area, a Christian church generally anxious about vaccination.
Texas policy permits vaccination exemptions based on morality, including spiritual beliefs.
To keep “herd immunity,” the CDC recommends a 95 percent immunization coverage.
However, school policy has reduced from 95.2 percentage in 2019-2020 to 92.7 percentage in 2023-2024, leaving about 280, 000 children unprotected.
A Washington position woman who died from asthma brought on by the disease in a prior US measles-related death in 2015. Despite being vaccinated, she was taking immunological treatment. The most recent influenza death was in 2003.
Measles, an aerial lung disease, transmits through infected people ‘ inhaling, coughing, or sneezing. It mainly threatens unvaccinated individuals, including babies under 12 months unsuitable for vaccination, and compromised individuals.
During outbreaks, hospitalisation affects one in five sick people, with one in 20 developing asthma.
Sometimes, measles causes brain swelling and can be devastating. It even heightens childbirth complications, including premature babies and reduced birth weight.
The CDC reported 285 smallpox cases in 2023. With 1, 274 cases reported in 2019, the most significant pandemic has ever occurred, primarily in New York and New Jersey.
Before the 1963 influenza vaccine introduction, millions probably contracted the illness periodically, with lots of casualties. In the US, epidemics continue every year despite being declared overturned in 2000.
