# First Measles death in Texas - Feb, 2025, and now in other parts of the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 26, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834 "2025-02-26T16:56:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/21 "2025-02-27T14:23:30Z")
Certainly the parents are devasted by their child’s death, I can’t imagine them not being so. What I don’t know is if theyregret their decision not to vaccinate. A sensible person might say yes, I should have vaccinated and my child would still be alive. But anti-vaxxers are not sensible people. Will this encourage other parents to get their children current on their vaccines? I doubt it. For too many people, scientists are the enemy with their warnings about global warming (how can that be, I saw snow last year?) and their pandemic recommendations (I didn’t get the jab and I survived, neener neener neener). For this lot, children dying from preventable diseases is the price to be paid for free-dumb, just as slaughtered children in schools is the price to be paid for unfettered access to weapons of murder. In their view, the far greater danger is in the LGTBQ community. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/22 "2025-02-27T14:24:34Z")
What we’re seeing in unprecedented numbers lately is people who, as an analogy, reject the theory of evolution because the fossil record is imperfect, but who then try desperately to convince you of the validity of Creation, a theory for which there is absolutely zero objective support. It’s just that A Book … A Single Work of Fiction … lays it out. Even if you question the credibility of the mainstream media, real science, or the Conventional Wisdom (and it’s reasonable to be skeptical), you can’t just make stuff up out of whole cloth. Remember: just because you DO believe it doesn’t mean it IS true, and just because you DON’T believe it doesn’t mean it’s NOT true. Put yet another way: ignoring science because it’s inherently imperfect is like being unwilling to aim or practice because your first shot didn’t hit the bullseye. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/23 "2025-02-27T15:05:39Z")
Texas outbreak reportedly originated with Mennonites. > **[Who are the Mennonites in a Texas community where measles is spreading?](https://apnews.com/article/measles-outbreak-texas-vaccinations-mennonites-4880035d6fd53cc029b531f5adda95ad)** > > The Mennonite population being affected by a measles outbreak in West Texas is part of a larger, loosely affiliated group of churches worldwide with varied beliefs and leadership structures — and with sometimes strained or distant relations with... > **[How Texas measles outbreak spread outside of Mennonite community](https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-texas-measles-outbreak-spread-outside-of-mennonite-community/)** > > A measles outbreak primarily affecting the state of Texas has grown to nearly 100 cases, according to state health officials. Omar Villafranca explains how the measles outbreak may have spread beyond an unvaccinated religious community in Gaines... ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/24 "2025-02-27T17:45:30Z")
Well, I went and got an MMR booster on my lunch break today. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/25 "2025-02-27T18:32:20Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Wait til small pox or polio comes back. > It will. > They will kill for vaccines then. You’re too optimistic. They’ll probably say the government spread it. These are the same morons who say, to this very day, that the Covid vaccine killed hundreds of thousands of people. These are the people who deny that the polio vaccine stopped polio. They say it was better sanitation. I was alive then, and I don’t remember any better sanitation. I do remember getting a jab in kindergarten (before the sugar cubes were available) and that my mother stopped living in fear that I’d catch it. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/26 "2025-02-27T18:48:34Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > > > Wait til small pox or polio comes back. > > It will. > > They will kill for vaccines then. > > You’re too optimistic. They’ll probably say the government spread it. Smallpox was eradicated in the wild. However, I think there are some vials of it hidden in the depths of some government warehouse, under lock and key, like the Ark of the Covenant, looked after by “Top. Men”. So, if it gets loose it _will_ be the government spreading it, and looking at the yahoos now in charge of our health infrastructure and disease-detecting apparatus, it’s not so far fetched any more. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/27 "2025-02-27T19:38:38Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > looked after by “Top. Men”. The staff assigned to prevent diseases from being taken out of the lab have been fired. [/s] ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/28 "2025-02-27T19:54:27Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’ve always wondered - why don’t these parents feel the same grief/loss/pain about their kids’ death as a pro-vaxx parent would? I’m kind of curious why you think they don’t. I mean look, I’m not defending antivaxxers in any way, shape, or form. But let’s assume you believe something that can help save your life is dangerous. Let’s say you believe seat belts can spontaneously kill you or cause permanent mental or physical damage if you wear them. So, you don’t wear them and you don’t let your kids wear them in the car. Is this stupid? Of course! But if you get in an accident and your kid dies, and a seatbelt would likely have saved them, that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t mourn your child any less than someone who’s kid died while wearing a seatbelt. It just means your an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/29 "2025-02-27T20:10:50Z")
I knew some anti-vaxxers who died from COVID. For one of them, their family tried to keep the cause of his death real hush, hush. Dude was a trucker meaning he traveled quite a bit and came into contact with a good number of people so he was high risk. Thought the whole COVID thing was either overblown or just a stupid government lie. I only knew it was COVID because his daughter told me. For the rest of the family, it was just too embarrassing to admit what had happened. I imagine there’s some social pressure among the anti-vaxxers to ignore reality even when it rears it’s ugly head and kills someone they love. If you suddenly tell them you wish you had your kid vaccinated you run the risk of alienating them. That can be tough to do. I feel bad for new parents. Even someone who isn’t an anti-vaxxer isn’t immune to their rhetoric. You’re a new parents and want to do what’s best for your child and you get bombarded with messages about how dangerous vaccinations are and can make them hesitate when vaccinating their own kids. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/30 "2025-02-27T21:20:10Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The staff assigned to prevent diseases from being taken out of the lab have been fired. [/s] Could be true though. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/31 "2025-02-27T22:03:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > These are the people who deny that the polio vaccine stopped polio. They say it was better sanitation. I was alive then, and I don’t remember any better sanitation. I do remember getting a jab in kindergarten (before the sugar cubes were available) and that my mother stopped living in fear that I’d catch it. Au contraire, it was better sanitation that led to the polio epidemic. Previously, it hit essentially every infant by 6 months, but was very rarely paralytic. In fact, when I was growing up it was called infantile paralysis, but had been rather rare. With improved sanitation, it stopped being something everyone caught as an infant. There was a strong correlation between and seriousness, so if someone like FDR didn’t get it till adulthood, it was much likelier to result in paralysis. My wife had a 15 year old classmate die of polio for want of an iron lung. As for measles, I didn’t know anyone who died, but the infant son of my favorite college professor suffered severe encephalitis, was permanently brain damaged, spent his life institutionalized and died in his 40s. The mother was a pediatrician, so I assume he got the best possible care. ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/32 "2025-02-27T22:08:41Z")
Measles killed the daughter of Roald Dahl. > **[Roald Dahl - on the death of his daughter — Leading Steps Paediatrics](https://leadingsteps.com.au/leading-steps-news/pejejrusfjg95vs4zkjnv7vr0suy1e)** > > Our paediatricians love to read Roald Dahl books to their own children. In 1986 Roald Dahl wrote something different - an open letter about his daughter’s death from measles ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/33 "2025-02-27T23:10:33Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I do remember getting a jab in kindergarten (before the sugar cubes were available) and that my mother stopped living in fear that I’d catch it. My mother was terrified, too. I can remember standing in a long line on Washington Blvd in Culver City to get my sugar cube. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/34 "2025-02-28T00:31:52Z")
Yup. We lived in base housing, Otis AFB, Cape Cod. TPTB set up vaccination stations in several of the currently empty residences, and we kids lined up for our sugar cubes. G.D. buttinsky socialists! How dare they meddle in a parent’s right to have their kid get sick if that’s what God intended. To think that they exerted their authority over us with the flimsy, pinko label of “public health”! /s ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/35 "2025-02-28T01:07:23Z")
From what I can gather, one of the issues here is that a rather enormous part of the population simply has no idea what science is. They think of it as a body of knowledge imparted by elites who have no common sense. They were never taught or never absorbed such things as what a hypothesis is (their idea: a random guess, the way it is used in common language), what a theory is (their idea: slightly less random guess). I remember being taught basic principles of the scientific method in either grade school or middle school, and being tested on it. But I think our schools were better then. Also, the Bible is not a work of fiction. It’s not one work at all, but a collection of annals, myths, fiction, poetry, and history, all written by different people over a period of some thousand years and very gradually assembled into one book. Some events provably took place, some provably didn’t, and some it just isn’t clear. It wasn’t history in the modern sense because history hadn’t been invented. People who are taught to accept the teachings of their elders and leaders without question must necessarily be naive and gullible. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/36 "2025-02-28T01:32:09Z")
My kids got all their shots. When they were older(starting kindergarten) I explained to them why it was necessary. Age around 5. If all you can say is “Diseases are bad, might make you very sick or kill you. Shots make that less likely to happen” My kids didn’t need high university degrees to understand that. It’s not that hard. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/37 "2025-02-28T02:02:43Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > From what I can gather, one of the issues here is that a rather enormous part of the population simply has no idea what science is. They think of it as a body of knowledge imparted by elites who have no common sense. They were never taught or never absorbed such things as what a hypothesis is (their idea: a random guess, the way it is used in common language), what a theory is (their idea: slightly less random guess). I remember being taught basic principles of the scientific method in either grade school or middle school, and being tested on it. But I think our schools were better then. From what I’ve seen, as long as the misinformation is presented in a way that their minds can understand, they assume it’s correct, and then congratulate themselves on how smart they are for understanding it. I knew plenty of relatively smart people running around blathering about the spike protein on the covid molecule as though that meant they understood science. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/38 "2025-02-28T02:27:34Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > From what I’ve seen, as long as the misinformation is presented in a way that their minds can understand, they assume it’s correct, and then congratulate themselves on how smart they are for understanding it. And to add, it’s as easy as ever to “do your own research” and expose yourself to a multitude of “experts” where you can search for a couple minutes to find exactly what you are looking for, and someone telling you exactly what you want to hear. If it’s not a fact, no matter, if it’s on the internet, it must be true!! All protected by the First Amendment! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/39 "2025-02-28T14:58:51Z")
This is supposed to be a gift link. Not sure it really is. > **[RFK Jr., America’s Leading Advocate for Getting Measles](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/02/rfk-measles-vaccines-texas-outbreak/681860/?gift=QgO_LHw-skz7EqtMG0lcxkzKe6rpcgN-KOd8IjffepU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share)** > > Contrary to what the health secretary says, the outbreak of disease in Texas is, in fact, unusual. > “It’s not unusual.” That’s how Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist and secretary of Health and Human Services, [described](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/person-dies-measles-west-texas-outbreak-rcna193812) an ongoing measles outbreak in and around Texas that has already infected more than 100 people and killed one child. This incident is, in fact, unusual. Until this week, someone hadn’t died of measles in this country since [2015](https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/02/health/us-measles-death/index.html), and endemic spread of the virus was declared [eliminated](https://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/history.html) in the United States 25 years ago. As the leader of our health-care system, Kennedy could have used his political megaphone to encourage vaccination. But he is a vocal [critic](https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/the-measles-book-childrens-health-defense-vaccine/) of the measles shot, which has saved more than [90 million](https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/measles-vaccines-have-saved-over-90-million-children-in-the-last-50-years#:~:text=Measles%20vaccines%20have%20saved%20over,years%20%2D%20Our%20World%20in%20Data) lives, and has [claimed](https://childrenshealthdefense.org/news/a-dozen-facts-about-measles-that-you-wont-learn-from-mspharmedia/) (with very modest evidence) that catching measles may reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers. In keeping with those views, he has passed on the opportunity. > > … > > Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group that Kennedy formerly chaired… [suggested](https://x.com/ChildrensHD/status/1892697323580592382) on X that the Texas measles outbreak was caused not by the virus but by the vaccine. (This is [impossible](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/01/rfk-jr-conspiracy-theorist/681482/).) > > … > > It is only on account of vaccination, medical care, and sanitation that infections are [no longer](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1804754) killing so many U.S. children. [Most deaths of U.S. kids](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10042524/) today result from external injuries—motor-vehicle crashes, firearms, drug overdoses, suffocation, and drowning. …Another chronic childhood condition—and the most deadly one—is cancer. So far, at least, the fight against pediatric cancers has been set back by the administration in which Kennedy is serving. Over the past 50 years, medicine has made [miraculous advances](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10887299) in treating leukemia and other cancers affecting kids, largely due to research supported by the National Institutes of Health. Yet this month, the White House has taken several [different steps](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/02/nih-grant-freeze-biomedical-research/681853/) to interfere with the NIH’s funding. > … ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834/40 "2025-02-28T17:07:54Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t recall any of my childhood friends dying of measles. According to this: In the 1950s, there were 5,487,332 cases (just under 550,000 a year) and 4,950 deaths (about 500 each year). [A History of Measles Outbreaks in United States - VAXOPEDIA](https://vaxopedia.org/2018/03/15/a-history-of-measles-outbreaks-in-united-states/#:~:text=In%20the%20pre-vaccine%20era%2C%20measles%20was%20a%20very,year%29%20and%204%2C950%20deaths%20%28about%20500%20each%20year%29.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-measles-death-in-texas-feb-2025-and-now-in-other-parts-of-the-us/1014834.md?page=3)