\u201cCDC hasn\u2019t reached out to us locally,\u201d Katherine Wells, the public health director in Lubbock, Texas, wrote in a Feb. 5 email exchange with a colleague two weeks after children with measles were hospitalized in Lubbock. \u201cMy staff feels like we are out here all alone,\u201d she added<\/a>.<\/p>\n A child would die before CDC scientists contacted Wells.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us at CDC train for this moment, a massive outbreak,\u201d one CDC researcher told KFF Health News, which agreed not to name CDC officials who fear retaliation for speaking with the press. \u201cAll this training and then we weren\u2019t allowed to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Delays have catastrophic consequences when measles spreads in undervaccinated communities, like many in West Texas. If a person with measles is in the same room with 10 unvaccinated people, nine will be infected, researchers estimate<\/a>. If those nine go about their lives in public spaces, numbers multiply exponentially.<\/p>\n The outbreak that unfolded in West Texas illustrates the danger the country faces under the Trump administration as vaccination rates drop<\/a>, misinformation flourishes, public health budgets are cut, and science agencies are subject to political manipulation.<\/p>\n While the Trump administration stifled CDC communications, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fueled doubt<\/a> in vaccines and exaggerated the ability of vitamins<\/a> to ward off disease. Suffering followed: The Texas outbreak<\/a> spread to New Mexico<\/a>, Oklahoma<\/a>, Kansas<\/a>, Colorado<\/a>, and Mexico\u2019s Chihuahua state<\/a> \u2014 at minimum. Together these linked outbreaks<\/a> have sickened more than 4,500 people, killed at least 16, and levied exorbitant costs on hospitals, health departments, and those paying medical bills.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is absolutely outrageous,\u201d said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University. \u201cWhen you\u2019re battling contagious diseases, time is everything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018The CDC Is \u201cStressed\u201d Currently\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Wells was anxious the moment she learned that two unvaccinated children hospitalized in late January<\/a> had the measles. Hospitals are legally required to report measles cases to health departments and the CDC, but Wells worried many children weren\u2019t getting tested.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this may be very large,\u201d she wrote in a Feb. 3 email<\/a> to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Wells relayed in another email<\/a> what she\u2019d learned from conversations around town: \u201cAccording to one of the women I spoke with 55 children were absent from one school on 1\/24. The women reported that there were sick children with measles symptoms as early as November.\u201d<\/p>\n In that email and others<\/a>, Wells asked state health officials to put her in touch with CDC experts who could answer complicated questions on testing, how to care for infants exposed to measles, and more. What transpired was a plodding game of telephone.<\/p>\n One email<\/a> asked whether clinics could decontaminate rooms where people with measles had just been if the clinics were too small to follow the CDC\u2019s recommendation to keep those rooms empty for two hours.<\/p>\n \u201cWould it be possible to arrange a consultation with the CDC?\u201d Wells wrote on Feb. 5.<\/p>\n \u201cIt never hurts to ask the CDC,\u201d said Scott Milton, a medical officer at the Texas health department. About 25 minutes later, he told Wells that an information specialist at the CDC had echoed the guidelines advising two hours.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked him to escalate this question to someone more qualified,\u201d Milton wrote<\/a>. \u201cOf course, we know the CDC is \u2018stressed\u2019 currently.\u201d<\/p>\n Local officials resorted to advice from doctors and researchers outside the government, including those at the Immunization Partnership<\/a>, a Texas nonprofit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe CDC had gone dark,\u201d said Terri Burke, executive director of the partnership. \u201cWe had anticipated a measles outbreak, but we didn\u2019t expect the federal government to be in collapse when it hit.\u201d<\/p>\n Technically, the Trump administration\u2019s freeze on federal communications<\/a> had ended Feb. 1. However, CDC scientists told KFF Health News that they could not speak freely for weeks after.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of confusion and nonanswers over what communications were allowed,\u201d one CDC scientist said.<\/p>\n Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said the situation was not unique to measles. \u201cLike most public health organizations, we weren\u2019t able to get ahold of our program people in February,\u201d he said. Information trickled out through the CDC\u2019s communications office, but CDC scientists gave no press briefings and went dark on their closest partners across the country. \u201cThe CDC was gagged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Through private conversations, Benjamin learned that CDC experts were being diverted to remove information from websites to comply with executive orders. And they were afraid to resume communication without a green light from their directors or the Department of Health and Human Services as they watched the Trump administration lay off<\/a> CDC staffers in droves.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that the CDC was delinquent,\u201d Benjamin said. \u201cIt\u2019s that they had their hands tied behind their backs.\u201d<\/p>\n To work on the ground, the CDC needs an invitation from the state. But Anne Schuchat, a former CDC deputy director, said that during her 33 years with the agency, federal health officials didn\u2019t need special permission to talk freely with local health departments during outbreaks. \u201cWe would always offer a conversation and ask if there\u2019s anything we could do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Lara Anton, a press officer at the Texas health department, said the state never prevented the CDC from calling county officials. To learn more about the state\u2019s correspondences with the CDC, KFF Health News filed a public records request to the Texas health department. The department refused to release the records. Anton called the records \u201cconfidential under the Texas Health and Safety Code.\u201d<\/p>\n Anton said the state sent vaccines, testing supplies, and staff to assist West Texas in the early weeks of February. That\u2019s corroborated in emails<\/a> from the South Plains Public Health District, which oversees Gaines County, the area hit hardest by measles.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas will try to handle what it needs to before it goes to the CDC,\u201d Zach Holbrooks, the health district\u2019s executive director, told KFF Health News.<\/p>\n Responding to an outbreak in an undervaccinated community, however, requires enormous effort. To keep numbers from exploding, public health workers ideally would notify all people exposed to an infected person and ask them to get vaccinated immediately if they weren\u2019t already. If they declined, officials would try to persuade them to avoid public spaces for three weeks so that they wouldn\u2019t spread measles to others.<\/p>\n Holbrooks said this was nearly impossible. Cases were concentrated in close-knit Mennonite communities<\/a> where people relied on home remedies before seeking medical care. He said many people didn\u2019t want to be tested, didn\u2019t want to name their contacts, and didn\u2019t want to talk with the health department. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what resources I have if people won\u2019t avail themselves of it,\u201d Holbrooks said.<\/p>\n Historically, Mennonites faced persecution in other countries, making them leery of interacting with authorities, Holbrooks said. A backlash against covid restrictions deepened that mistrust.<\/p>\n Another reason Mennonites may seek to avoid authorities is that some live in the U.S. illegally<\/a>, having immigrated to Texas from Canada, Mexico, and Bolivia in waves over the past 50 years. Locals guess<\/a> the population of Seminole, the main city in Gaines County, is far larger<\/a> than the U.S. Census<\/a> count.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no idea how many cases we might have missed, since I don\u2019t know how many people are in the community,\u201d Holbrooks said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people in the shadows out here.\u201d<\/p>\n Public health experts say the situation in Gaines sounds tough but familiar. Measles tends to take hold in undervaccinated communities, and therefore public health workers must overcome mistrust, misinformation, language barriers, and more.<\/p>\n About 450 people \u2014 including local health officials, CDC scientists, nurses, and volunteers \u2014 helped control a measles outbreak sparked in an Eastern European immigrant community in Clark County<\/a>, Washington, in 2018.<\/p>\n Alan Melnick, Clark County\u2019s public health director, said his team spoke with hundreds of unvaccinated people who were exposed. \u201cWe were calling them basically every day to see how they were doing and ask them not to go out in public,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Melnick spoke with CDC scientists from the start, and the intensity of the response was buoyed by emergency declarations by the county and the state. Within a couple of months, the outbreak was largely contained. No one died, and only two people were hospitalized.<\/p>\n In New York<\/a>, hundreds of people in the city\u2019s health department responded to a larger measles outbreak in 2018 and 2019 concentrated among Orthodox Jewish communities. The work included meeting with dozens of rabbis and distributing booklets to nearly 30,000 households to combat vaccine misinformation.<\/p>\n The effort cost more than $7 million, but Jane Zucker, New York City\u2019s assistant health commissioner at the time, said it yielded immense savings. The average medical bill for measles hospitalizations is roughly $18,500, according to data from prior<\/a> outbreaks<\/a>. Then there\u2019s the cost of diverting hospital resources, of children missing school, of parents staying home from work to care for sick kids, and the lasting toll<\/a> of some measles infections, including deafness or worse<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a price tag to put on a child\u2019s death that would otherwise be prevented,\u201d Zucker said.<\/p>\n Local health departments in West Texas were understaffed from the start. About 18 people work at the South Plains health department, which oversees four vast rural counties. About 50 staff the department in Lubbock, where patients were hospitalized and health workers struggled to figure out who was exposed. In mid-February, Wells emailed a colleague<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019m so overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n A Death Ignites a Response<\/strong><\/p>\n On Feb. 26, Texas announced that a 6-year-old child had died<\/a> of measles. Wells heard from CDC scientists for the first time the following day. Also that day, the CDC issued a brief notice<\/a> on the outbreak. The notice recommended vaccines, but it worried public health specialists because it also promoted vitamin A as a treatment under medical supervision.<\/p>\n In emails<\/a>, Texas health officials privately discussed how the CDC\u2019s notice might exacerbate a problem<\/a>: Doctors were treating children<\/a> with measles for toxic levels of vitamin A, suggesting that parents were delaying medical care and administering the supplements at home. A local Lubbock news outlet reported on a large drugstore<\/a> where vitamin A supplements and cod liver oil, which contains high levels of vitamin A, were \u201cflying off the shelf.\u201d<\/p>\n Too much vitamin A can cause liver damage, blindness, and dire abnormalities<\/a> during fetal development.<\/p>\n Milton worried that parents were listening to misinformation from anti-vaccine groups \u2014 including one founded<\/a> by Kennedy \u2014 that diminished the need for vaccination by inaccurately claiming<\/a> that vitamin A staved off the disease\u2019s worst outcomes.<\/p>\n \u201cHow many people will choose Vitamin A and not a vaccine because it appears to them there are two options?\u201d Milton asked in an email<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scientists at the CDC privately fretted, too. \u201cHHS pressed us to insert vitamin A into all of our communications with clinicians and health officials,\u201d one CDC scientist told KFF Health News, referring to the agency\u2019s notices and alerts. \u201cIf pregnant women took too much vitamin A during the outbreak, their babies could be profoundly disabled. We haven\u2019t seen those babies born yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Another CDC official said they\u2019ve had to \u201cwalk a fine line\u201d between protecting the public based on scientific evidence and aligning with HHS.<\/p>\n While CDC scientists held their tongues, Kennedy exaggerated the power of nutrition and vitamin A while furthering mistrust in vaccines. \u201cWe\u2019re providing vitamin A,\u201d Kennedy said in an interview on Fox News<\/a>. \u201cThere are many studies, some showing 87% effectiveness,\u201d he claimed, \u201cagainst serious disease and death.\u201d<\/p>\n The studies Kennedy referenced<\/a> were conducted in low-income countries where children are malnourished. Evidence suggests that vitamin A supplementation is seldom useful<\/a> against measles in the United States, because deficiency is exceedingly rare.<\/p>\n Kennedy deflected criticism from those who call him anti-vaccine, saying that<\/a> any parent in Texas who wants a measles vaccine can get one. He followed this with dangerously inaccurate statements<\/a>. \u201cThere are adverse events from the vaccine. It does cause deaths every year,\u201d he said. \u201cIt causes all the illnesses that measles itself causes, encephalitis and blindness, et cetera.\u201d There is no evidence<\/a> that measles vaccines \u201ccause deaths every year.\u201d Scores of studies show that the vaccine doesn\u2019t cause<\/a> encephalitis, that most potential side effects resolve quickly on their own, and serious adverse reactions are far rarer than measles complications.<\/p>\n In another interview,<\/a> Kennedy said, \u201cThe MMR vaccine contains a lot of aborted fetus debris.\u201d The measles, mumps, and rubella, or MMR, vaccine does not contain<\/a> an iota of fetal cells.<\/p>\n HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon and spokespeople at the CDC did not respond to queries from KFF Health News.<\/p>\n \u2018Staff Are Exhausted\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite national attention after the country\u2019s first measles death in a decade, West Texas was overwhelmed. In late February and March, hospital administrators and health officials exchanged emails about how to lobby for resources.<\/p>\n \u201cLocal hospitals are at capacity,\u201d wrote Jeffrey Hill<\/a>, a senior vice president at the University Medical Center Health System in Lubbock. \u201cThe state reports emergency funds that typically cover a response like the measles outbreak are not available from the federal government right now,\u201d he added.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI am writing to express our urgent need for additional staff and funding,\u201d Ronald Cook, medical director for Lubbock, said in an email<\/a>, drafted with other Lubbock health authorities, to the deputy city manager. \u201cOur Capacity is Stretched Thin: The health department has been operating seven days a week since February 2nd. Staff are exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n The city of Lubbock fronted money to help the local health department hire temporary staff. The state did not provide money, but it asked the CDC to send epidemiologists. Some came to Texas in early March. Then Texas requested federal funds.<\/p>\n None arrived, even as the outbreak approached 500 cases. It spread to Mexico<\/a> when an unvaccinated Mennonite child returned home after visiting family in Seminole. This would fuel the largest outbreak Mexico has seen in decades<\/a>, with at least 3,700 cases and 13 deaths<\/a> in the state of Chihuahua.<\/p>\n Then another child in West Texas died of measles<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a rare moment of openness, CDC scientist David Sugarman mentioned the outbreak at a vaccine advisory meeting<\/a> in late April. \u201cThere are quite a number of resource requests coming in, in particular from Texas,\u201d Sugarman said. \u201cWe are scraping to find the resources and personnel needed to provide support to Texas and other jurisdictions.\u201d<\/p>\n Federal funds arrived in Texas on May 21, said Anton, the state health department spokesperson. By then, the crisis was fading. The outbreak seemed to have burned until every unvaccinated person in Seminole was infected, said Richard Eby, a doctor at Permian Regional Medical Center who treated some measles patients. Hundreds, if not thousands, of cases have probably gone undetected, he said. \u201cA lot of people presumed their kids had measles,\u201d he said, \u201cand didn\u2019t see the need to confirm it.\u201d<\/p>\n On Aug. 18, health officials declared the West Texas outbreak over<\/a>, but the consequences of the catastrophe will be lasting.<\/p>\n The outbreaks it sparked across the U.S. and Mexico are still spreading.<\/p>\n More are inevitable, Nuzzo said. A growing number of parents are deciding not to vaccinate<\/a> their kids, worried over unfounded rumors about the shots. Misinformation is flourishing, especially after Kennedy fired vaccine experts who advise the CDC and replaced them with doctors and researchers on the fringes<\/a> of the scientific establishment. For example, one of his recent appointees, Robert Malone, blamed the deaths of children<\/a> with measles on \u201cmedical mismanagement,\u201d without evidence<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the same time, states are downsizing programs for emergency response, disease surveillance, and immunization after the Trump administration clawed back more than $11 billion<\/a> in public health funds earlier this year.<\/p>\n Amid Lubbock\u2019s toughest months, Wells sent an email<\/a> to the department\u2019s exhausted staff. \u201cThe future is uncertain, and I know this is an unsettling time for many of us,\u201d she wrote. \u201cEvery day we show up and do our jobs is an act of resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Tear-sheet-163.png\")
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![an email<\/a>, drafted with other Lubbock health authorities, to the deputy city manager. \u201cOur Capacity is Stretched Thin: The health department has been operating seven days a week since February 2nd. Staff are exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\nThe city of Lubbock fronted money to help the local health department hire temporary staff. The state did not provide money, but it asked the CDC to send epidemiologists. Some came to Texas in early March. Then Texas requested federal funds.<\/p>\nNone arrived, even as the outbreak approached 500 cases. It spread to Mexico<\/a> when an unvaccinated Mennonite child returned home after visiting family in Seminole. This would fuel the largest outbreak Mexico has seen in decades<\/a>, with at least 3,700 cases and 13 deaths<\/a> in the state of Chihuahua.<\/p>\nThen another child in West Texas died of measles<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn a rare moment of openness, CDC scientist David Sugarman mentioned the outbreak at a vaccine advisory meeting<\/a> in late April. \u201cThere are quite a number of resource requests coming in, in particular from Texas,\u201d Sugarman said. \u201cWe are scraping to find the resources and personnel needed to provide support to Texas and other jurisdictions.\u201d<\/p>\nFederal funds arrived in Texas on May 21, said Anton, the state health department spokesperson. By then, the crisis was fading. The outbreak seemed to have burned until every unvaccinated person in Seminole was infected, said Richard Eby, a doctor at Permian Regional Medical Center who treated some measles patients. Hundreds, if not thousands, of cases have probably gone undetected, he said. \u201cA lot of people presumed their kids had measles,\u201d he said, \u201cand didn\u2019t see the need to confirm it.\u201d<\/p>\nOn Aug. 18, health officials declared the West Texas outbreak over<\/a>, but the consequences of the catastrophe will be lasting.<\/p>\nThe outbreaks it sparked across the U.S. and Mexico are still spreading.<\/p>\nMore are inevitable, Nuzzo said. A growing number of parents are deciding not to vaccinate<\/a> their kids, worried over unfounded rumors about the shots. Misinformation is flourishing, especially after Kennedy fired vaccine experts who advise the CDC and replaced them with doctors and researchers on the fringes<\/a> of the scientific establishment. For example, one of his recent appointees, Robert Malone, blamed the deaths of children<\/a> with measles on \u201cmedical mismanagement,\u201d without evidence<\/a>.<\/p>\nAt the same time, states are downsizing programs for emergency response, disease surveillance, and immunization after the Trump administration clawed back more than $11 billion<\/a> in public health funds earlier this year.<\/p>\nAmid Lubbock\u2019s toughest months, Wells sent an email<\/a> to the department\u2019s exhausted staff. \u201cThe future is uncertain, and I know this is an unsettling time for many of us,\u201d she wrote. \u201cEvery day we show up and do our jobs is an act of resilience.\u201d<\/p>\nKFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\nThis story can be republished for free (details<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As measles surged in Texas early this year, the Trump administration\u2019s actions sowed fear and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":933,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions\/933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/08\/104.png\"){kind=link}