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The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Prominent US anti-vaxxer says he caught measles and traveled back home
One of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the US says he caught measles in west Texas and traveled back home – but he seems not to have alerted local authorities of his illness, which means the highly transmissible virus may have spread onward. Measles is a threat to people who are unvaccinated or immune-compromised. In anti-vaccine communities, it may quickly find a foothold and spread largely under the radar before ballooning into an outbreak. Brian Hooker, chief scientific officer of Children's Health Defense, filmed an interview in west Texas in March with the parents of the six-year-old child who died from measles – the first measles death in the US in a decade. The video promoted several dangerous myths about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Two doses of the vaccine are 97% effective at preventing measles, a virus that can be deadly and can cause lifelong harm. Hooker and Polly Tommey, an anti-vaccine film-maker with Children's Health Defense, also interviewed other Mennonite families in west Texas. And they visited the medical office of Ben Edwards while patients and Edwards himself had symptomatic measles, they said. Hooker then traveled home to Redding, California, and developed measles symptoms, he said. 'Full disclosure, 18 days after visiting Seminole, Texas, sitting in a measles clinic and being exposed to Doctor Ben with the measles, I got the measles. So cool,' Hooker said. Hooker, Tommey, and Edwards spoke on a podcast hosted by anti-vaccine activist Steve Kirsch on May 22. This news has not been previously reported by other outlets. Children's Health Defense did not respond to the Guardian's inquiry for this story. Hooker doesn't appear to have sought healthcare or testing to confirm his symptoms were measles and not another infection. Other viral and bacterial infections may cause rashes, which is why medical providers need to conduct tests to confirm measles cases. Without confirmation of his illness being measles, Hooker may spread misinformation about the illness – including what helps to treat it. Hooker says he turned to the alternative treatments hailed by anti-vaccine activists. Edwards had given him cod liver oil and vitamin C supplements in Gaines county, Hooker said, noting: 'I stuck them in my luggage, and that's what I did.' And if this case was measles, by not seeking confirmation testing and notifying officials, Hooker may have contributed to onward spread. It's not clear if his first symptoms appeared after 18 days, or if he developed other symptoms – runny nose, cough, fever, watery eyes – and then a rash after 18 days. After a person is exposed to measles, the virus usually incubates for 11 to 12 days before respiratory symptoms appear, followed by a rash two to four days later. A person is considered infectious four days before the rash appears and remains infectious until four days after it fades. If Hooker's illness was measles, 'it sounds like my worst nightmare as an infectious disease doc,' said Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at University of California San Francisco. 'For all we know, there's a trail of measles, like bread crumbs in Hansel and Gretel.' In areas with no known cases, health providers might not immediately suspect measles, he said: 'Many people probably didn't know they had it. There could have been people who were ill with pneumonia, who went into the hospital and no one diagnosed it. It's very, very hard to diagnose because we haven't seen that much of it. But of course, we're seeing a lot more of it now.' There are other indications that the actual number of cases from the Texas outbreak is higher than the official count, Chin-Hong said – with three confirmed deaths, experts might expect a case count closer to 3,000, instead of the 762 cases in Texas and 95 cases in New Mexico. Typically, medical providers alert local or state health officials when a patient tests positive for measles. Health officials then conduct contact tracing to notify anyone who came into contact with the patient, including other travelers. A representative for the Shasta county health department, serving the area where Hooker says he lives, said there have been no confirmed cases of measles reported this year. 'There are no cases of measles in Shasta county, and we have had no notice of any confirmed cases of measles this year,' said Jules Howard, community education specialist with the Shasta County Health & Human Services Agency. It's important to know when a region has even a single case so resources can be diverted to the area to stop transmission, Chin-Hong said. The most important part of those efforts is contact tracing and vaccinating anyone who is vulnerable – especially infants, pregnant people, and immune-compromised people, he said. Hooker is a prominent figure in the anti-vaccine community. He testified on Tuesday before a US Senate committee in its first-ever 'vaccine injury' hearing, attempting to link MMR vaccination to autism – despite several studies showing no relationship. Hooker said he became sick with measles despite being vaccinated as a child. But because he was born before 1989, he probably only received one dose of the MMR vaccine, which is 93% effective at stopping illness. Vaccination may also make breakthrough illness milder. When anti-vaccine messages keep parents from getting their children vaccinated, 'I think the damage is immediate,' Chin-Hong said, before adding that it 'goes beyond the measles outbreak'. Other vaccine-preventable illnesses like whooping cough and the flu are also surging. 'Measles is like the poster child, but it's about a way of life that we've taken for granted in the last few decades that is threatened,' Chin-Hong said. 'The fact that [they] are questioning it on a public stage means that a lot more people who might have trusted their clinicians are questioning it more now.' The US eliminated measles in 2000, but the nation could lose that status if there is sustained transmission for more than a year. 'We're going back in time,' Chin-Hong said. 'We have to relearn all of these diseases.'
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Prominent US anti-vaxxer says he caught measles and traveled back home
One of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the US says he caught measles in west Texas and traveled back home – but he seems not to have alerted local authorities of his illness, which means the highly transmissible virus may have spread onward. Measles is a threat to people who are unvaccinated or immune-compromised. In anti-vaccine communities, it may quickly find a foothold and spread largely under the radar before ballooning into an outbreak. Brian Hooker, chief scientific officer of Children's Health Defense, filmed an interview in west Texas in March with the parents of the six-year-old child who died from measles – the first measles death in the US in a decade. The video promoted several dangerous myths about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Two doses of the vaccine are 97% effective at preventing measles, a virus that can be deadly and can cause lifelong harm. Hooker and Polly Tommey, an anti-vaccine film-maker with Children's Health Defense, also interviewed other Mennonite families in west Texas. And they visited the medical office of Ben Edwards while patients and Edwards himself had symptomatic measles, they said. Hooker then traveled home to Redding, California, and developed measles symptoms, he said. 'Full disclosure, 18 days after visiting Seminole, Texas, sitting in a measles clinic and being exposed to Doctor Ben with the measles, I got the measles. So cool,' Hooker said. Hooker, Tommey, and Edwards spoke on a podcast hosted by anti-vaccine activist Steve Kirsch on May 22. This news has not been previously reported by other outlets. Children's Health Defense did not respond to the Guardian's inquiry for this story. Hooker doesn't appear to have sought healthcare or testing to confirm his symptoms were measles and not another infection. Other viral and bacterial infections may cause rashes, which is why medical providers need to conduct tests to confirm measles cases. Without confirmation of his illness being measles, Hooker may spread misinformation about the illness – including what helps to treat it. Hooker says he turned to the alternative treatments hailed by anti-vaccine activists. Edwards had given him cod liver oil and vitamin C supplements in Gaines county, Hooker said, noting: 'I stuck them in my luggage, and that's what I did.' And if this case was measles, by not seeking confirmation testing and notifying officials, Hooker may have contributed to onward spread. It's not clear if his first symptoms appeared after 18 days, or if he developed other symptoms – runny nose, cough, fever, watery eyes – and then a rash after 18 days. After a person is exposed to measles, the virus usually incubates for 11 to 12 days before respiratory symptoms appear, followed by a rash two to four days later. A person is considered infectious four days before the rash appears and remains infectious until four days after it fades. If Hooker's illness was measles, 'it sounds like my worst nightmare as an infectious disease doc,' said Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at University of California San Francisco. 'For all we know, there's a trail of measles, like bread crumbs in Hansel and Gretel.' 'For all we know, there's a trail of measles, like bread crumbs in Hansel and Gretel.' In areas with no known cases, health providers might not immediately suspect measles, he said: 'Many people probably didn't know they had it. There could have been people who were ill with pneumonia, who went into the hospital and no one diagnosed it. It's very, very hard to diagnose because we haven't seen that much of it. But of course, we're seeing a lot more of it now.' There are other indications that the actual number of cases from the Texas outbreak is higher than the official count, Chin-Hong said – with three confirmed deaths, experts might expect a case count closer to 3,000, instead of the 762 cases in Texas and 95 cases in New Mexico. Typically, medical providers alert local or state health officials when a patient tests positive for measles. Health officials then conduct contact tracing to notify anyone who came into contact with the patient, including other travelers. A representative for the Shasta county health department, serving the area where Hooker says he lives, said there have been no confirmed cases of measles reported this year. 'There are no cases of measles in Shasta county, and we have had no notice of any confirmed cases of measles this year,' said Jules Howard, community education specialist with the Shasta County Health & Human Services Agency. It's important to know when a region has even a single case so resources can be diverted to the area to stop transmission, Chin-Hong said. The most important part of those efforts is contact tracing and vaccinating anyone who is vulnerable – especially infants, pregnant people, and immune-compromised people, he said. Hooker is a prominent figure in the anti-vaccine community. He testified on Tuesday before a US Senate committee in its first-ever 'vaccine injury' hearing, attempting to link MMR vaccination to autism – despite several studies showing no relationship. Hooker said he became sick with measles despite being vaccinated as a child. But because he was born before 1989, he probably only received one dose of the MMR vaccine, which is 93% effective at stopping illness. Vaccination may also make breakthrough illness milder. When anti-vaccine messages keep parents from getting their children vaccinated, 'I think the damage is immediate,' Chin-Hong said, before adding that it 'goes beyond the measles outbreak'. Other vaccine-preventable illnesses like whooping cough and the flu are also surging. 'Measles is like the poster child, but it's about a way of life that we've taken for granted in the last few decades that is threatened,' Chin-Hong said. 'The fact that [they] are questioning it on a public stage means that a lot more people who might have trusted their clinicians are questioning it more now.' The US eliminated measles in 2000, but the nation could lose that status if there is sustained transmission for more than a year. 'We're going back in time,' Chin-Hong said. 'We have to relearn all of these diseases.'
USA Today
21-03-2025
- Health
- USA Today
Parents of child who died of measles still don't support MMR vaccine
Parents of child who died of measles still don't support MMR vaccine Show Caption Hide Caption Texas child is first reported US measles death in a decade A Texas child is the first in the U.S. to die from measles in a decade. The parents of the unvaccinated 6-year-old girl who died from the measles are speaking out — but not in favor of vaccination. In an emotional video interview with the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense published earlier this week, the Mennonite husband and wife outlined how their five children — all unvaccinated — contracted the highly contagious disease. Their daughter, the first to get sick, became the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. She died in late February. Their family lives in Gaines County and is part of an under-vaccinated Mennonite community where measles has spread since January. Dozens of people have been hospitalized, and hundreds of cases are nearly entirely among unvaccinated people. 'We would absolutely not take the MMR,' the wife said in English, referring to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The vaccine is highly effective at preventing measles; even one dose gives a person 93% protection, and the full two-dose series gives 97% protection. Officials have said the girl had no underlying health conditions. 'The measles wasn't that bad,' said the wife, who added she also had measles during her daughter's funeral. Her other four children got sick days later. She said 'they got over it pretty quickly.' In the interview dated March 15, the couple, who weren't identified by name, spoke in English and Low German through a translator with Polly Tommey, Children's Health Defense's executive director, and Brian Hooker, the group's chief science officer. Children's Health Defense is an organization founded by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been criticized for his mixed and erroneous messaging about the ongoing measles outbreak, the largest in six years. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment. The parents said their 6-year-old had measles for days. Other children in their community had measles and they heard of its spread, the parents said. In the U.S., about 1 in 5 unvaccinated people who contract measles get hospitalized, and 1 to 3 in every 1,000 children infected with the disease die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Around 1 in 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, which is the most common cause of death in young children. In rare cases, children develop brain swelling that can cause convulsions, deafness and intellectual disabilities. The parents took their daughter to Covenant Children's Hospital, in Lubbock, after her fever kept rising and she described feeling tired. Her breathing wasn't normal, the wife said, but she said it didn't appear bad. Hospital officials told them she had pneumonia. She had been intubated to help with her breathing and given antibiotics. Days later, the child died from pneumonia, they said. Did you see? This young Texas doctor only read about measles. Now she's a leading expert amid outbreak. In a follow-up article, Children's Health Defense accused the hospital of a 'medical error' in her treatment. The group cited a review of medical records by Dr. Pierre Kory, a physician who lost his medical certifications including for pulmonary and critical care after spreading misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, Covenant Children's said in a statement that the video circulating online contained misleading and inaccurate claims regarding care at the hospital. Hospital officials urged people with questions about measles to talk a health provider. Patient confidentiality laws prevent the hospital from providing information directly related to the case, hospital officials said. After their 6-year-old girl's death, the parents said their other four children came down with a rash, the telltale sign of measles. 'Measles are good for the body,' the father said in English. In Low German, he said through a translator that immunity from measles wouldn't allow children to get cancer as easily, a claim recently echoed by Kennedy in a Fox News interview. This is not supported by evidence. See map: U.S. measles cases top 2024 total as outbreaks surpass 300 infections in 15 states In recent interviews, Kennedy has embraced treatments such as cod liver oil, containing vitamin A, to treat measles. Experts say cod liver oil is not an evidence-based treatment. Vitamin A is typically used for malnourished patients sick with measles who often can't access vaccines, but it is not an effective treatment in the U.S., where malnutrition isn't as common. The parents said they then sought treatment from a local doctor who has promoted such treatments. While HHS and CDC have called vaccination the best tool to contain the spread, Kennedy and officials have framed it as a personal choice or sowed doubts about vaccine safety. Experts say vaccination is the best tool.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas parents of child who died of measles urge others not to vaccinate
The Texas parents of an unvaccinated 6-year-old girl who died from measles Feb. 26 told the anti-vaccine organization Children's Health Defense this week that the experience did not convince them that vaccination against measles was necessary. 'She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,' ' an unidentified translator for the parents said. 'They think it's not as bad as the media is making it out to be.' The couple, members of a Mennonite community in Gaines County, spoke on camera in both English and Low German to CHD Executive Director Polly Tommey and CHD Chief Scientific Officer Brian Hooker. 'It was her time on Earth,' the translator said the parents told her. 'They believe she's better off where she is now.' 'We would absolutely not take the MMR,' the mother said in English, referring to the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination children typically receive before attending school. She said her stance on vaccination has not changed after her daughter's death. 'The measles wasn't that bad. They got over it pretty quickly,' the mother said of her other four surviving children who were treated with castor oil and inhaled steroids and recovered. The couple told CHD that their daughter had measles for days when she became tired and the girl's labored breathing prompted the couple to take her to Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock. There, the girl was intubated and died a few days later. The other children came down with measles after their sister died. The parents' interview was posted on the website of Children's Health Defense, an organization founded in 2007 by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now secretary for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Kennedy stepped down from the organization to run for president in 2023. The deceased girl's father insisted that measles helps build up a person's immune system. 'Also the measles are good for the body for the people,' the father said, explaining 'You get an infection out.' The Mennonite community located in remote Gaines County, about 400 miles west of Dallas, has been the center of a West Texas measles outbreak. As of Tuesday, measles has spread to 279 patients in Gaines and nearby counties. Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock, which cared for the couple's daughter, released a prepared statement on Thursday. They said the interview circulating online contains 'misleading and inaccurate claims regarding care provided at Covenant Children's' and that the hospital could not directly speak about the girl's case because of patient confidentiality laws. 'What we can say is that our physicians and care teams follow evidence-based protocols and make clinical decisions based on a patient's evolving condition, diagnostic findings and the best available medical knowledge,' the statement said. Covenant Children's reiterated that measles is a highly contagious, potentially life-threatening disease that often creates serious, well-known complications like pneumonia and encephalitis. The hospital urged anyone with questions about measles to contact their health provider. We can't wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more. Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
