According to a spokesperson, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has started relocating staff to address the serious measles outbreak in Texas. This move comes one week after significant layoffs at the agency affected its capacity to manage the virus’s spread.
“A group of three personnel was dispatched yesterday to consult with local and state authorities to determine the urgent needs for addressing this outbreak. They are meeting with officials again today,” said CDC spokesperson Jason McDonald in an email.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. mentioned on Sunday that the CDC would be sending teams to Texas following a request from the state’s governor, after the death of another unvaccinated child in the ongoing measles outbreak. An 8-year-old girl marked the second casualty this year.
“Once the assessment is finalized, additional CDC personnel will be deployed to Texas as directed by Secretary Kennedy and at the governor’s request. The initial teams sent to Texas arrived in March and returned to CDC on April 1,” McDonald stated.
Several staff members involved in the CDC’s measles response were among the thousands affected by recent layoffs, CBS News officials have reported.
So far, a small number of employees from various agencies within the department have been reinstated to work, at least until the end of the 60-day period before their layoff notices take effect.
McDonald did not provide information regarding whether the staff laid off who had worked on the measles response might be among those the Kennedy could reinstate.
The current outbreak in Texas and neighboring states has pushed this year’s count of measles cases in the U.S. to the highest levels since a significant surge in 2019, which was the worst the country has seen in decades.
Although dozens of measles cases are reported each year, often related to undervaccinated travelers returning from abroad, health authorities have warned that ongoing community transmission this year threatens to jeopardize America’s elimination of the virus’s endemic spread.
This year, there have been six measles outbreaks reported, according to a CDC spokesperson speaking to CBS News on Friday. The outbreak affecting Texas and its neighboring states constitutes the majority of these cases. Smaller outbreaks are also occurring in New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, and Kansas.
Details regarding the sixth outbreak have not yet been disclosed, as noted by the spokesperson, due to patient privacy concerns.
Kennedy emphasizes vaccine as the “most effective way” to curb measles transmission
While in Texas, Kennedy also shared on X that the “most effective means to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.” The MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella, is typically administered in two doses during early childhood.
Kennedy’s recent statements regarding the measles vaccine have faced criticism from health experts, particularly following a Fox News interview in which he overstated the shot’s associated risks.
In a subsequent post, Kennedy mentioned meeting with “two extraordinary healers” who purportedly “healed around 300 measles-affected Mennonite children using aerosolized budesonide and clarithromycin.”
Dr. James Campbell, a pediatrics professor at the University of Maryland, explained via email in March that budesonide can occasionally aid in treating respiratory illnesses by reducing lung inflammation. CBS News contacted Campbell after Kennedy previously praised the “miraculous and instantaneous recovery” these treatments allegedly provided.
“In 2025, we shouldn’t need to treat measles in the U.S. since it’s entirely preventable, yet like all preventable diseases, we still do,” said Campbell.
Campbell is the vice chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee that formulates recommendations for treating measles and other infectious diseases.
While clarithromycin is an antibacterial medication, it does not target viruses such as measles. Nonetheless, doctors can use it to treat co-infections resulting from some bacterial pneumonias that may occur in infected children, Campbell noted. However, it is not effective against all bacterial strains.
“Decisions regarding treatment should be made individually by physicians, not as broad recommendations for every child with measles,” advised Campbell. He emphasized that the drugs lack evidence supporting their routine use for measles treatment and warned against making “sweeping claims about those individual treatment choices concerning measles in general.”
“Vaccination prevents measles, but for those who do contract it, comprehensive studies—and not anecdotal evidence—will enhance our ability to treat them,” Campbell added.
Kennedy’s advocacy for alternative treatments has faced rebuttal from other health experts, including former officials from the Trump administration.
“My children and grandchildren will not succumb to measles because they are vaccinated. There is no substitute nor any effective treatment for measles,” Dr. Brett Giroir, an advisor to the department this year, stated in an opinion piece published by RealClearHealth last week.
This editorial by Giroir, who previously served as assistant secretary of health during President Trump’s first term, was released before the news of the second child death in the Texas measles outbreak. The last measles fatality in the U.S. occurred in 2015.
“The death of even one child due to measles is a tragedy not just for the family and community but for our entire nation. If we cannot prevent measles, what can we truly achieve? We must act to avoid another tragedy,” Giroir remarked.
