An unvaccinated child has died in the Texas measles outbreak

A sign is seen outside a clinic with the South Plains Public Health District, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, in Brownfield, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

LUBBOCK, Texas — A child who was not vaccinated has died from measles in West Texas, the first death in an outbreak that began late last month and the first from measles in the U.S. since 2015.

The death was a “school-aged child who was not vaccinated” and had been hospitalized last week, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday in a statement. Lubbock health officials also confirmed the death, but neither agency provided more details. Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed this is the first measles death in the country since 2015.

The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 124 cases across nine counties, which state health officials have said is Texas' largest in nearly 30 years. There are also nine cases in eastern New Mexico.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is “watching” the outbreak, which he described as “not unusual” during a Wednesday meeting of President Donald Trump’s cabinet members. The health secretary did not provide specifics on how or if the federal agency is assisting on the ground.

“The loss of a child is a tragedy,” and Gov. Greg Abbott and his wife are praying for “the family, loved ones and the entire Lubbock community,” Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said. He added that the governor’s office is in “regular communication” with the state health department, that epidemiologists and vaccination teams are in the “affected area,” and that there are “daily situation updates and coordination calls” with local health officials.

“The state will deploy all necessary resources to ensure the safety and health of Texans,” Mahaleris said.

Vaccination rates across the U.S. have declined nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic and most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners -- the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks. Measles cases were the worst in almost three decades in 2019, and there was a rise in cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60.

The outbreak is largely spreading in the Mennonite community in West Texas, where small towns are separated by vast stretches of oil rig-dotted open land but connected due to people traveling between towns for work, church, grocery shopping and other errands.

Texas health department data shows the vast majority of cases in the area are among people younger than 18. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine -- which is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases -- is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old for the first shot, with the second coming between 4 and 6 years old.

The vaccine series is required for kids before entering kindergarten in public schools nationwide.

The cases in West Texas have been concentrated in a “close-knit, undervaccinated” Mennonite community, state health department spokesperson Lara Anton has said, especially among families who attend small private religious schools or are homeschooled. Gaines County, which has 80 cases, has one of the highest rates in Texas of school-aged children who opt out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14% of K-12 children in the 2023-24 school year.

Earlier this month, Kennedy said a panel would investigate the childhood vaccine schedule that prevents measles and other dangerous diseases.

Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most kids will recover from the measles if they get it, but infection can lead to dangerous complications like pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is providing “technical assistance, laboratory support and vaccines as needed” to West Texas, the agency told the AP, but the state health department is taking the lead in the outbreak investigation.

A news conference is scheduled in Lubbock on Wednesday afternoon.

Article written by Devi Shastri, The Associated Press

AP writers Jim Vertuno, JoNel Aleccia and Amanda Seitz contributed to this report.

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