PUBLIC HEALTHSome Measles Response Plans Crash to a Halt after Trump Cuts
Cities and states fighting a historic measles outbreak find themselves undermined by the Trump administration as they struggle to provide crucial vaccinations and overcome disinformation.
Cities and states fighting a historic measles outbreak find themselves undermined by the Trump administration as they struggle to provide crucial vaccinations and overcome disinformation. As of this week, cases were nearing 650 in 22 states, on track to reach a 34-year high.
A second unvaccinated child died of measles in West Texas last week. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attended her funeral Sunday and called vaccination “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles” in a social media post.
Yet, as experts have noted, Kennedy has promoted vaccine skepticism and pitched alternatives such as cod liver oil and vitamin A to prevent measles — neither of which works. A top vaccine expert working under Kennedy resigned in protest.
Abrupt cutoffs in federal funding under President Donald Trump have also crippled some state efforts to vaccinate people against measles and other diseases.
A third death in New Mexico, of an unvaccinated adult who tested positive for measles, remains under investigation. Before vaccination started in 1963, measles caused as many as 500 deaths a year in the United States.
The most important things states can do are providing vaccine clinics, testing quickly for measles, and tracing the contacts of people with identified cases, as well as fighting misinformation on vaccines, said Dr. Susan Kansagra, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
“Measles is one of the most contagious diseases, so one of the roles of public health is working to identify others that might have been exposed,” Kansagra said of contract tracing.
Despite vaccines’ effectiveness, recent federal funding halts have crippled state and local efforts to vaccinate more people not only for measles but also for this year’s deadly influenza viruses and COVID-19. On April 3, a federal judge in Rhode Island agreed to temporarily block the Trump administration from pulling $11 billion in federal health grants from states after a court challenge by Democratic states.
But in the days before the judge’s order, measles response plans came to a crashing halt in parts of Minnesota, Texas and Washington state when federal health grants were abruptly cut off. Dozens of free vaccination clinics in the Dallas area were canceled overnight. On March 24, Washington state was forced to cancel 104 upcoming “Care-a-Van” mobile clinics that would have provided 2,000 vaccinations against childhood diseases, including measles.
