Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Withholds Measles Risk Analysis, Makes Vaccine A 'Personal Choice'
ProPublica: The CDC Buried A Measles Forecast That Stressed The Need For Vaccinations
Leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered staff [last] week not to release their experts’ assessment that found the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks where vaccination rates are lagging, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica. In an aborted plan to roll out the news, the agency would have emphasized the importance of vaccinating people against the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease that has spread to 19 states, the records show. (Callahan, 3/28)
The Texas Tribune: Texas Measles Cases Rise To 400
The number of measles cases has risen to 400, a spike of 73 cases over the last three days, as the historical outbreak continues to rage on in West Texas, according to state officials on Friday. Of those, 41 patients have been hospitalized. As of Friday, most of the measles cases reported since January –– 270 –– were centered in Gaines County, about 90 minutes southwest of Lubbock on the New Mexico border. Earlier this week, state officials confirmed Lamb County, northeast of Lubbock, reported its first measles case. On Friday, two more counties, Andrews and Midland counties which are within an 80-mile radius of Gaines, reported their first cases. (Langford, Simpson and Klibanoff, 3/28)
The Atlantic: Texas Never Wanted RFK Jr.’s Vitamin A Shipment For Measles
Kennedy made a show of shipping vitamin A to measles-stricken communities. The state’s public-health department didn’t take up the offer. (Florko, 3/28)
Politico: ‘This Is All Wholly Preventable,’ Former Covid Chief Says Of Measles Outbreak
Former White House Covid-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha on Sunday laid the blame for an ongoing measles outbreak currently centered on West Texas squarely at the feet of new HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “This is all wholly preventable,” Jha told Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week.” “We’ve already had two people die. I’m worried we’re going to see more children get very, very sick and die. We should not be at this point in our country, and yet here we are because of bad information being spread by Secretary Kennedy and others.” (Svirnovskiy, 3/30)
NPR: As Measles Cases Rise, Some Parents Become Vaccine Enthusiasts
As a measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico continues to grow, and other states report outbreaks of their own, some pediatricians across the U.S. say they are seeing a new trend among concerned parents: vaccine enthusiasm. "Our call center was inundated with calls about the MMR [measles, mumps, rubella] vaccine," says Dr. Shannon Fox-Levine, a pediatrician in Broward County, Fla. She says parents are asking if their child is up to date on their vaccinations. Or "should they get another vaccine? Should they get an extra one? Can they get it early?" (Godoy, 3/30)
