Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned that vaccine skepticism has eroded the importance of herd immunity in light of the measles outbreak in Texas, and put some of the blame on Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In an op-ed published by CNN on Thursday, Adams wrote that the high rate of vaccine decline in the Texas Mennonite community where the measles outbreak began highlights how quickly measles can spread through an unvaccinated population.
“While some may believe that abstaining from vaccination keeps them healthier or more resistant to diseases, the reality is that their ‘immunity’ has, until now, been borrowed from their vaccinated neighbors,” wrote Adams. “This collective shield, known as herd immunity, is not automatic or enduring; it has been built over decades through high vaccination rates.”
Adams’s remarks echo what infectious disease specialists have previously said of the recent measles resurgence. The U.S. achieved measles elimination status in 2000, and, according to experts, this lead to people forgetting how bad measles can be and taking the disease’s rarity for granted.
“I think not only have we largely eliminated measles, we’ve eliminated the memory of measles. I don’t think people remember just how sick measles can make you,” Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, previously told The Hill.
The outbreak has bled into neighboring New Mexico. As of the most recent update, 317 cases have been confirmed in Texas and New Mexico as well as four probable cases in Oklahoma. Nearly all cases have occurred in unvaccinated children.
One unvaccinated Texas child died due to measles last month, and an unvaccinated individual who died in New Mexico tested positive for the virus, though their cause of death is still being determined.
Some cases were initially believed to be breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals, but further investigation found that they occurred in people immunized just days before symptoms began, weeks before they would be considered fully vaccinated.
Adams, who served as surgeon general during President Trump’s first term, was critical of Kennedy’s remarks before and during the current outbreak, accusing him of fanning the flames of vaccine skepticism, which has lead to declining immunization rates.
“A significant driver of current skepticism has been Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the nonprofit organization he led, Children’s Health Defense, which has spread vaccine mistrust and misinformation for years,” Adams wrote in his op-ed.
“Ironically — or perhaps inevitably — now that Kennedy is secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, he faces the largest measles outbreak in Texas and the first child death from measles in over 20 years.”
While Kennedy has acknowledged the importance of vaccines since the measles outbreak began, he has also pushed vitamins, steroids and fish oil supplements as viable treatments for the virus. Infectious disease specialists have warned these supplements offer little benefit to American measles patients.
“Kennedy’s legacy will be defined not by what he has said in the past but by what he does now,” wrote Adams. “He will be remembered either as the vaccine skeptic who turned vaccine champion or as the man at the helm of HHS when America made measles great again. For the sake of our public health, and our children, we should all hope it’s the former, not the latter.”
