Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was staring at his first major health crisis as head of health and welfare, but there was a plan. Kennedy told Fox earlier this month that the federal government is offering Vitamin A after Texas experienced its first measles death in the United States for the first time in a decade. But this week, a Texas official told me that Vitamin A had not arrived at the state health department, not because RFK Jr. broke their promise, not because Texas doctors didn’t ask them.
The dosages are “if they are needed,” Lara Anton, the state’s senior reporter at Public Health, told me in a statement. But her office “is because our healthcare providers aren’t asking us to do that,” she said. Anton had no records regarding the shipment of vitamin A, budesonide, clarithromycin, or cod liver oil, but Kennedy said he could help measles, but the state has been receiving 1,760 additional vaccines from the federal government since mid-February for measles, mumps and levelera.
When a Texas official asked Anton if she thought vitamin A treatment was useless, she introduced me to the state website. “Vitamin A cannot prevent measles. It can serve as supplementary treatment if someone gets a measles infection, especially if they have severe cases of measles or low vitamin A levels and are under doctor’s care,” the local health department in Gaines County, the epicenter of the fatal outbreak, said they have not received any alternative treatment either. (HHS did not respond to requests for comment.)
In just a few weeks of work, Kennedy has broken down decades of public health precedent in dealing with measles. In Fox’s March 2nd operation, he recognized that the vaccine “not only protects individual children from measles, but also contributes to community immunity.” He also approved Vitamin A, which is not FDA approved to treat measles as a way to significantly reduce deaths from the disease. According to a 2005 meta-analysis, Vitamin A can reduce the risk of death in children under the age of 2 infected. However, contrary to Kennedy’s claims in his Fox interview, it has not been shown to effectively prevent disease.
It is no surprise that the health department does not want to ship unproven treatments. But Texas’ decision to reject offers of assistance from top federal health officials during the fatal measles outbreak suggests that everyone on the country’s public health equipment is not ready to line up along Kennedy’s unfounded claims. This appears to include some staff members from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that fall within Kennedy’s scope. On Tuesday, the CDC’s top communications officer announced his resignation in a hug maneuver for Kennedy’s alternative measles treatment embrace. Public records I have collected from Texas show that CDC staff is supporting at least one local health department. For example, in a series of emails with medical professionals in Texas, CDC officials workshopped the announcement of multiple pro-vaccine public services, which helped them translate them into low German and Spanish. “The best way to protect against measles is to use measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines,” one flyer read. Also, a letter from local health director Zachary Holbrooks, distributed to parents of unvaccinated school children, said, “I highly recommend that you vaccinate your child as soon as possible.” None of the ingredients I obtained mentioned vitamin A.
It is unclear whether these pro-vaccine messages are persuading locals, particularly the Mennonite population at the heart of the Texas outbreak. Last year, less than 82% of Gaines County kindergarten children were vaccinated from measles. Data from the state’s vaccine registration suggests that vaccinations have risen by about 10% this year, despite limited visibility in Texas compared to the same period in 2024. Holbrooks said recently Atlantic Ocean Three local Mennonite churches have refused to reject requests to place a measles testing facility on the district health department’s premises. Meanwhile, residents are clearing up supply of vitamin A and cod oil from local drugstores. Makeshift clinic It’s about handing out cod liver oil. this week, New York Times Some children in the area report collecting such high doses of vitamin A. Liver damage.
After Kennedy voted importantly to confirm as health secretary, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana told her colleagues that Kennedy could help “restore confidence in public health agencies.” But Kennedy already makes it easier to achieve that admirable goal. As long as the nation’s best public health officials advocate for miraculous treatments, families in West Texas are encouraged to believe that not vaccinating children is a responsible choice. Even if they refuse to play alongside Kennedy’s pseudo-scientific routine, public health leaders cannot fix the issue themselves.
