New Mexico lawmakers urge RFK Jr. to respond to measles outbreak as Texas child dies
In a letter sent this week, U.S. Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich as well as U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury, Gabe Vasquez and Teresa Leger Fernández urged Kennedy to rehire "critical federal employees" who are tasked with curbing outbreaks.
"Your action is urgently needed to stop the spread of measles in New Mexico and across America," the letter states. It calls for Kennedy to publish regular measles updates on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's website, maintain existing vaccination guidelines and embark on a nationwide campaign to improve vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella.
According to the New Mexico Department of Health's data released Tuesday, there were nine cases of measles in Lea County in the state's southeastern corner. Four of the cases occurred in children between 5 and 17.
Heinrich also took to X on Wednesday to call out the Ben Archer Health Center, which operates several clinics in Southern New Mexico, for purportedly denying medical care to undocumented patients.
"What Ben Archer was pulling at its health clinics wasn't just wrong, it was illegal," Heinrich said in a statement. He announced later Wednesday the health center had since reversed course.
Ben Archer officials did not immediately return a call requesting comment.
The congressional delegates' call for action comes as an unvaccinated child has died from measles in West Texas, the first death in an outbreak that began late last month. The outbreak has grown to 124 cases across nine counties, which officials have said is Texas' largest in nearly 30 years.
The death was a 'school-aged child who was not vaccinated' and had been hospitalized last week, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement Wednesday.
The CDC confirmed this is the first measles death in the country since 2015.
Texas health department data shows the vast majority of cases are among people younger than 18. Gaines County, which has 80 cases, has one of the highest rates in Texas of school-aged children who opt out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14% of K-12 children in the 2023-24 school year.
There's "no confirmed connection" between the Lea County cases and the outbreak in bordering Texas counties, New Mexico Department of Health spokesperson Robert Nott wrote in an email Wednesday.
The request from New Mexico delegates might be a tough sell for Kennedy, who has long espoused anti-vaccine views, failing to acknowledge the scientific consensus that childhood vaccines do not cause autism and the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Those views dominated Kennedy's confirmation hearings last month. Though a promise not to change the nation's vaccination schedule clinched his confirmation, he's since vowed to investigate the vaccine schedule.
Kennedy's first few weeks on the job also brought mass firings, with more than 5,000 probationary employees dismissed earlier this month — a figure that includes about a tenth of the CDC workforce. More dismissals are expected soon.
Mass layoffs of federal workers "will worsen outbreaks and ultimately threaten the health of all Americans in the face of the next public health emergency," the congressional delegates' letter states.
"Preventing and mitigating outbreaks is only possible through effective disease tracking and communication, an adequate workforce, and vaccination," it adds.
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