The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has sent some of its “disease detectives” to West Texas to help with the measles outbreak there — a sign that the Trump administration is getting more deeply involved in the response.
The agency made the announcement on its X account, in a statement that included a quote from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary who has drawn criticism for his muted response to the outbreak. Last week a child died, the first measles death in the United States in a decade.
The C.D.C. has no authority to go into Texas or any other state on its own; when an outbreak occurs, the agency must be invited in by state health officials. The partnership, known as an Epi-Aid, is a rapid-response effort in which the Epidemic Intelligence Service Officers — the “disease detectives” — will provide local officials support for one to three weeks.
“The measles outbreak in Texas is a call to action for all of us to reaffirm our commitment to public health,” Mr. Kennedy said in the statement. “By working together — parents, health care providers, community leaders and government officials, we can prevent future outbreaks and protect the health of our nation.”
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory illness that can be life-threatening. Vaccines can offer broad protection and are usually administered to children. The two doses are typically given in a combination measles-mumps-rubella, or M.M.R., vaccine and prevent more than 97 percent of measles infections.
Mr. Kennedy said last week that the administration was supporting the Texas Department of Health through “technical assistance and vaccines,” including sending 2,000 M.M.R. shots and providing laboratory support for better tracking the virus that is causing the outbreak.
He said Health and Human Services officials had also been in communication with local public health officials, and had update the C.D.C. website with guidance on how to manage the disease — including administering vitamin A, which studies show has prevented measles in malnourished children.
But Mr. Kennedy has not used his bully pulpit to encourage vaccination. A longtime critic of vaccines who has used his platform to suggest, without evidence, that the measles vaccine causes autism, Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly said that he is not anti-vaccine, he is simply pro-choice, and wants parents to have enough information to make decisions about vaccination on their own.
He initially downplayed the measles outbreak during a Cabinet meeting last week, when he dismissed the child’s death as “not unusual.” Over the weekend, he switched gears, writing an opinion piece for Fox News in which he offered only a tepid endorsement of vaccination, saying the vaccine can “protect individual children from measles.”
But his message came with a caveat. “The decision to vaccinate is a personal one,” he said.
