RFK Jr sparks alarm after backing nutritional vitamins to deal with measles amid outbreak

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US well being secretary, has precipitated alarm amongst pediatricians, vaccine specialists and lawmakers with an opinion piece that focuses on vitamin A and diet as therapies for measles.

In response to a measles outbreak in Texas, which resulted within the first American measles demise in almost a decade, Kennedy wrote for Fox Information about the advantages of “good diet” and vitamin A – however didn’t explicitly advocate extremely efficient vaccines.

“The truth is, counting on vitamin A as an alternative of the vaccine isn’t solely harmful and ineffective, nevertheless it places youngsters at critical danger,” Dr Sue Kressly, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, advised the Washington Publish.

Measles is among the most infectious ailments on the planet. Infections kill one to 3 individuals for each 1,000 contaminated and might trigger extreme mind swelling, known as encephalitis, in a single in 1,000 circumstances. The illness additionally causes common distress, together with a attribute top-down rash, fever, runny nostril, and crimson and watery eyes. The measles vaccine is 97% efficient at stopping the illness.

At the least 146 individuals have been sickened in Texas, primarily in unvaccinated communities within the South Plains area. Greater than 20 individuals have been hospitalized, and an unvaccinated school-aged little one died – the primary American measles demise since April 2015.

Kennedy’s initially muted response to the outbreak has drawn intense criticism. Kennedy erroneously mentioned in a cupboard assembly that the outbreak killed two individuals in Texas, after which, “it’s commonplace” to have outbreaks. The truth is, measles sickened 285 individuals within the entirety of 2024. The Texas outbreak alone accounts for almost half of final 12 months’s whole comparatively early within the 12 months.

Over the weekend, Kennedy then penned an opinion piece in Fox Information by which he argued vaccination was a “private selection”, mentioned vitamin A can “dramatically scale back measles mortality” and stopped wanting explicitly recommending measles vaccination.

“Good diet stays a greatest protection in opposition to most power and infectious diseases,” Kennedy wrote. “Nutritional vitamins A, C, and D, and meals wealthy in nutritional vitamins B12, C, and E ought to be a part of a balanced weight-reduction plan.”

Though research have proven that vitamin A could possibly be an efficient supportive remedy for youngsters already contaminated with measles, most analysis has been performed in low- and middle-income international locations, significantly in Africa, the place measles demise charges and malnutrition are extra widespread.

“It may result in the impression of a false equivalency,” Dr Peter Hotez, the dean of the Nationwide College of Tropical Medication at Baylor School of Medication and the co-director of Texas Kids’s Hospital Heart for Vaccine Growth, advised the Publish. “To make the perfect choice to your youngsters, you possibly can both vaccinate or give vitamin A … That may be extremely deceptive.”

Kennedy’s actions additionally sparked outrage from Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic Massachusetts senator who demanded Kennedy make clear his “intentions” for US vaccine coverage in a Monday letter.

“These are harmful occasions for public well being,” Warren wrote, in line with CNN, citing a troublesome flu season and the risks of the H5N1 pressure referred to as hen flu. “Your irresponsible and reckless efforts to undermine the nation’s vaccine coverage threaten to fire up catastrophe.”

Measles was declared eradicated from the US in 2000. Nevertheless, the victory was short-lived. Across the identical time, former British physician Andrew Wakefield revealed a fraudulent examine linking vaccines to autism. The claims, regardless of being broadly and repeatedly debunked, have been circulated broadly by teams resembling Kids’s Well being Protection. Kennedy headed the non-profit for almost a decade. The group is taken into account one of many world’s main disseminators of anti-vaccine misinformation.

As well being secretary, Kennedy has additionally raised alarm for canceling conferences of influenza specialists on the US Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) and Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), issued a stop-work order on contracts meant to develop new vaccines, and is “re-evaluating” a $590m contract with vaccine-maker Moderna to develop a hen flu vaccine.

The US is within the midst of the worst flu season in 15 years. Though not thought-about a menace to most people, avian flu has additionally ravaged agriculture within the US, and provoked issues a couple of new pandemic.