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Schumer demands RFK Jr. declare measles emergency, saying he 'walked' US into outbreak

USA Today reports:

“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declare a nationwide emergency over spiking measles cases, accusing him of fueling the outbreak by dismantling public health and undermining trust in vaccines.

"Under your tutelage as Secretary, you have undermined vaccines, gutted public health funding, and dismantled core federal protections meant to keep Americans safe," Schumer wrote in a July 11 letter.

"You have walked our country into the nation’s largest measles outbreak in 33 years," he added.

Measles cases skyrocket, especially in unvaccinated

A quarter century after measles were eradicated in the U.S., cases have skyrocketed this year, reaching 1,288 confirmed cases across 39 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three people have died this year. Officials say almost nine in ten of the cases are spread across New Mexico and Texas, the site of a Mennonite community that became the initial hub of the outbreak earlier this year.

Most cases – 65% – are in people 19 years old and younger, and the vast majority – 92% – are unvaccinated people.

The outbreak has turned attention and heavy criticism from health experts towards Kennedy's vaccine skepticism and baseless claims that vaccines are dangerous and ineffective. Kennedy has said the measles vaccine weakens over time – a claim disputed by scientists – and that "we can't rely simply on the vaccine" to address the outbreak.

He has also downplayed the measles outbreak, saying more focus should be turned on chronic diseases like diabetes and autism instead.

In May, Kennedy directed the CDC to find new "scientific process" for treating measles and other diseases with drugs and vitamins. Although vaccines would still be recommended as the best way to prevent the disease, some "may choose not to vaccinate."

Kennedy fired all 17 members of a vaccine advisory last month, refilling it with some vaccine skeptics who have announced their first priority would be retooling vaccine recommendations for children.

Kennedy's drastic cuts to department programs and slashing of thousands of workers at the department have sparked alarm from public health experts and outrage from Democratic lawmakers. Kennedy said in April he would sack 10,000 Health and Human Services employees as part of the Trump administration's efforts to downsize the federal workforce.

Since then, the department has faced a myriad of legal challenges, most recently from top medical organizations over Kennedy dropping the COVID vaccine from the list of recommended shots for children and pregnant women.

Schumer is the latest Democrat on Capitol Hill to upbraid Kennedy in recent days over the measles outbreak.

"We have a record-breaking number of measles cases in America," Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, wrote on X, accusing Kennedy of filling the vaccine panel with "unvetted vaccine skeptics."

“ Where is our public hearing on this crisis?"

The measles vaccine is 97% effective at preventing the disease when administered in the recommended two doses, according to the CDC.

Since the start of the COVID pandemic, when skepticism of vaccines surged, buoyed by online conspiracies and distrust of public health institutions, measles vaccinations have dropped across the nation.
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Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, one of the world’s best-known vaccine skeptics and who holds no medical or scientific credentials, has also disrupted US vaccine policy and spread false inflammatory information about the MMR vaccine as well as other vaccines.

In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of a vaccine advisory panel that is a key link in the distribution pipeline, and stacked the committee with seven ideological allies. The group declared in its first meeting that it would review the schedule of childhood vaccines and review older vaccines.

Kennedy’s changes to federal vaccine policy are now the subject of a lawsuit by a pregnant physician who was denied a Covid-19 vaccine. Kennedy unilaterally declared Covid-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy pregnant women, despite many studies showing they are at higher risk.

Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” or MAHA study was recently exposed at a Senate hearing as being a fabrication, citing references that do not exist and imaginary “studies” never published. Kennedy’s personal history of illicit drug abuse and his bizarre behaviors are also disqualifying.

Why has he not been removed from his appointment and the integrity of the Department of Health and Human Services restored?