{"id":800279,"date":"2026-10-12T15:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/800279\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T15:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:22:11","slug":"anti-vaxxers-target-texas-measles-doctors-to-cast-doubt-on-deaths-amid-outbreak-us-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/800279\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-vaxxers target Texas measles doctors to cast doubt on deaths amid outbreak | US news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The six-year-old girl at the children\u2019s hospital in Lubbock, Texas<\/a>, burned with fever and struggled to breathe. Doctors soon put her on a ventilator, snaking a thick tube down the child\u2019s throat so a machine could breathe for her; they placed IVs to rehydrate her tiny body and they prescribed antibiotics for any bacterial infections that may have taken hold in the weeks she had spent at home battling measles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it was too late. Within a day of being ventilated, the child went into shock, her blood pressure crashed and she went into cardiac arrest. She could not be resuscitated. Her family, and the nation, mourned: she was the first child<\/a> to die of measles in the US in a decade.<\/p>\n

Yet some anti-vaccine activists soon began claiming that the girl died from medical malpractice, not measles, revealing a playbook that they are now running in Pennsylvania amid a growing<\/a> outbreak \u2013 a message taken up by Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a>, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a longtime anti-vaccine activist<\/a>, as he publicly disputes<\/a> the rising death toll.<\/p>\n

The deaths in the US from measles \u2013 now numbering eight in less than two years \u2013 are a political minefield for Kennedy, centering him in a public backlash<\/a> after years of his false claims<\/a> about the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.<\/p>\n

The deflection campaign is already having real-world consequences beyond the rising body count. Children\u2019s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group previously led by Kennedy, claims to have sparked malpractice investigations into the doctors who treated the two young unvaccinated girls who died from measles amid last<\/a> year\u2019s<\/a> outbreak<\/a> in west Texas, which infected at least 762 people.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first they were going to throw out the complaints,\u201d Brian Hooker, CHD\u2019s chief scientific officer, announced in a recent video. \u201cBut they have, upon further review \u2026 decided that they\u2019re going to let their own medical expert look at the records for those particular deaths. Because in each case, inappropriate antibiotics were prescribed, and that, I believe, led to both girls\u2019 deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Offit, an infectious diseases pediatrician and internationally recognized vaccine expert, said \u201cit\u2019s not a good look\u201d for Kennedy and other anti-vaxxers for so many cases and deaths to rise. \u201cSo they\u2019re trying to say, \u2018Well, it wasn\u2019t measles.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Katherine Wells, Lubbock Public Health\u2019s director, agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s their playbook,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just another tactic by them to disrupt or to question vaccines and the safety of vaccines. The issue at hand is that we\u2019re having these large measles outbreaks, and they\u2019re not stopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the deaths \u2013 it\u2019s also the severe disease, Wells said. The \u201cmassive\u201d outbreaks affect \u201cfamilies and communities and disrupt lives\u201d, Wells said. About one in five unvaccinated measles patients are hospitalized<\/a>. Measles erases<\/a> immunity to all other illnesses for years, putting patients at risk of other serious infections. And survivors may years later develop severe measles complications such as subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), which is fatal and untreatable.<\/p>\n

Health department staff members enter the Andrews county health department measles clinic carrying doses of the MMR vaccine on 8 April 2025 in Andrews, Texas. Photograph: Annie Rice\/AP<\/p>\n

Last year, Hooker traveled to Texas to interview the deceased six-year-old\u2019s parents, who said they still would not have vaccinated their children. A second child<\/a>, aged eight, soon died from measles at the same hospital.<\/p>\n

Hooker asked to see the children\u2019s medical records, and he shared them with Pierre Kory, a critical care physician with no pediatric training who lost<\/a> his board certifications for promoting Covid misinformation, heavily promoted the anti-parasitic ivermectin as a Covid treatment, and claimed that polio paralysis is caused not by the virus but by pesticides. Kory, who himself escaped<\/a> legal liability in a malpractice lawsuit brought by the estate of a Covid patient who died as a result of his treatment plan, concluded that the measles deaths were actually the result of medical error.<\/p>\n

Kory claimed the first child was prescribed \u201ca completely inappropriate antibiotic\u201d for a bacterial infection she developed because of measles, adding that \u201cshe did not die of measles by any stretch of the imagination,\u201d but rather she died of pneumonia and medical mismanagement. He also attributed the second child\u2019s death to \u201cmedical malpractice\u201d because of her antibiotic regime. Secondary bacteria infections are very common with measles, which can create a cascade of deadly complications.<\/p>\n

Privately, Kory reportedly said that he suspected<\/a> the two deaths in young girls in Texas were caused by a weaponized version of measles.<\/p>\n

Hooker and a colleague both submitted complaints to the Texas<\/a> medical board alleging that the antibiotics were given improperly to the sick children. In the video, he said the medical board is reviewing the complaints. The Guardian and Important Context were unable to confirm Hooker\u2019s claims. The identities of the doctors are not public.<\/p>\n

Anyone can file a complaint with a state medical board, and boards take complaints seriously. Several leading anti-vaccine figures have received medical board complaints about their own conduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe physicians went above and beyond, and the hospitals went above and beyond,\u201d Wells said. Pediatricians in hospitals work with the sickest children, with high stress and relatively low pay. \u201cIt\u2019s so hard to be told that you either wanted to hurt them or didn\u2019t want to give the best care you could,\u201d Wells said. Now, with the CHD accusations and possible medical board reports, \u201cI think it\u2019s in the back of everybody\u2019s minds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hooker\u2019s remarks about the Texas complaints followed the measles deaths of two unvaccinated infants in Pennsylvania. Hooker vowed<\/a> to \u201cget boots on the ground\u201d in the state to \u201cmake sure that if it was a hospital error that it doesn\u2019t happen again\u201d.<\/p>\n

Other anti-vaccine activists are helping to fuel the narrative. Peter McCullough, a former cardiologist whose board certification were revoked<\/a> by the American Board of Internal Medicine, noted<\/a> on X that there was \u201cno mention of antivirals, antibiotics, or steroids\u201d in the case of the third measles death in Pennsylvania, an unvaccinated 40-year-old woman. Yet the county coroner said the woman was not able to seek healthcare before she took a turn for the worse, so she would not have received medications for her illness.<\/p>\n

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Kennedy has suggested that Pennsylvania\u2019s governor, Josh Shapiro, made up<\/a> the measles deaths for political reasons. The message was echoed by Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, who claimed in a Fox News interview that Shapiro was \u201cplaying this out over the airwaves for political purposes, just like what happened during Covid\u201d, adding: \u201cAnd this is why there\u2019s such deep distrust in public health.\u201d<\/p>\n

A health worker prepares a dose of the measles vaccine at a health center in Lubbock, Texas, on 27 February 2025. Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said<\/a> in a Fox Business interview: \u201cWe don\u2019t know if the children died from measles or had another condition that was already attacking them and they happened to get measles at the same time.\u201d The CDC has also called the deaths into question, only<\/a> listing<\/a> two of the five deaths this year in Pennsylvania. Officials in Pennsylvania have been clear<\/a> that the deaths were because of measles.<\/p>\n

Anti-vaxxers have long vilified and targeted physicians. In Texas, attorney general Ken Paxton has launched<\/a> investigations into doctors who vaccinate children, alleging a conspiracy with drug companies. And CHD has funded numerous lawsuits<\/a> against pediatricians over alleged side effects from vaccines. In January, the group launched<\/a> a Rico suit against the American Academy of Pediatrics, which had sued Kennedy over changes to the vaccine schedule.<\/p>\n

Despite no longer leading CHD, Kennedy still appears to enjoy close ties to the organization. At their Washington DC conference in September, he said<\/a> they had \u201ca friend in the White House\u201d.<\/p>\n

Advocates say the group appears to be running interference<\/a> for Kennedy amid the ongoing resurgence of measles, which was previously declared eliminated in the US but has made a comeback<\/a> with rising anti-vaccine sentiment. CHD and Kennedy have been top promoters of vaccine misinformation, according to a 2021 report<\/a> by the Center for Countering Digital Hate.<\/p>\n

Kennedy has been \u201ca very successful anti-vaccine activist\u201d, which has resulted in the largest outbreak<\/a> of measles in three decades as well as the resurgence of other preventable illnesses, Offit said. \u201cNow we have more children dying of flu and measles and whooping cough \u2013 and Haemophilus influenzae type B meningitis<\/a> is now coming back<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anti-vaccine activists<\/a> want to \u201cdistract, distract, distract\u201d from the damage they have caused, Offit said. He believes the tactic will not be successful, pointing to pushback from leaders including Shapiro and from pediatricians. \u201cI think pediatricians will continue to move forward as they have,\u201d Offit said. When Kennedy attempted to slash vaccine recommendations in January, \u201cpediatricians ignored him\u201d, Offit said. \u201cI think most people are ignoring him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The efforts to spread misinformation and mistrust about pediatricians may take a toll, especially on people who already doubt vaccines, Wells said. \u201cIt just further divides us. It sticks with the people who want to believe that narrative, and I think it adds to the doubt that they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet when the outbreaks worsen, people who were previously vaccine-skeptical choose to get them, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring our outbreak, all the parents that were hesitant came forward as soon as they heard there were cases,\u201d Wells said, \u201cand they got their kids vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n

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