U.S. measles epidemic its worst of 21st century
The serious and highly contagious disease, once deemed eliminated from the country thanks to vaccines, is making a comeback against a backdrop of falling vaccination rates and growing mistrust of health authorities.
A total of 1,277 cases have been confirmed since the beginning of the year in nearly 40 of the 50 U.S. states, with Texas accounting for over 60 percent of the outbreak, according to Johns Hopkins.
The total U.S. figure is the highest since 1992.
The epidemic has so far claimed three lives -- all unvaccinated people -- including two young children. According to several experts the toll has been largely underestimated, as they expressed concern about under-reporting.
The previous measles-related infant death in the United States was in 2003, three years after measles had been declared officially eradicated thanks to vaccinations.
The last major outbreak was recorded in 2019 in Orthodox Jewish communities of New York and New Jersey, with 1,274 cases but no deaths.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.
U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F Kennedy Jr is accused of having exacerbated the health crisis by stoking fears about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine -- a highly effective shot he has falsely claimed is dangerous and contains fetal debris.
The epidemic broke out in late January in a rural area of Texas, where a vaccine-skeptical Mennonite Christian community was hit particularly hard.
This year's resurgence has also seen neighboring Canada and Mexico experience stronger-than-usual outbreaks.
More than 3,500 cases including one death have been recorded this year in Canada, the vast majority in Ontario province.
In Mexico nearly 2,600 cases and nine deaths have been recorded, according to the Pan-American Health Organization.
© 2025 AFP
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Japan Times
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RFK Jr.'s mRNA decision may be his worst yet
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to cancel $500 million in grants and contracts for mRNA vaccine development jeopardizes the health and safety of Americans — both now and for years to come. The Nobel Prize-winning technology enabled the first COVID-19 vaccines to be developed with breathtaking speed during the first year of the pandemic, ultimately saving millions of lives. Yet Kennedy spent years undermining confidence in mRNA, a misinformation campaign that he continued after he took office. Now, he's systematically dismantling the very infrastructure we need to respond to a future pandemic. The secretary justified the decision to abandon mRNA in a video full of falsehoods that was posted on his social media. He opened by claiming that the vaccines "don't perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract.' In fact, we have plenty of evidence, both from randomized controlled clinical trials and real-world studies, that COVID-19 shots save lives and reduce hospitalizations. And although we need to see more data, early signs suggest that Moderna's flu vaccine is comparable to — or even more effective than — existing flu vaccines based on older technologies. Of course, we'd love to have vaccines that work better — longer-lasting protection would be nice, as would the complete prevention of infections. But pulling funding for a proven technology like mRNA isn't the way to achieve those goals. Kennedy also claims that the design of mRNA vaccines — which expose the immune system to proteins the virus uses to infect us — is rendered useless by single mutations and that they encourage new mutations that can prolong pandemics. Both claims are false. All viruses accumulate tiny genetic changes over time, regardless of whether a vaccine exists. He ends by saying that scientific "experts' within the Department of Health and Human Services have determined that mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for respiratory viruses — another claim that public health experts strongly dispute. "I've been in the business for 50 years, and I've never seen a more dangerous decision made by a government agency related to public health,' says Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Says Osterholm, who has advised several administrations on pandemic preparedness, "There's no factual basis for what he's said.' Kennedy's hostility toward mRNA technology is no surprise. During the pandemic, he was cited by the Center for Countering Digital Hate as one of the "Disinformation Dozen,' a group of influencers responsible for the majority of the anti-vaccine content on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter — where he spread false claims about the dangers of the COVID-19 vaccine. 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Japan Today
06-08-2025
- Japan Today
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