Vaccine misinformation rife amid US measles outbreak

"According to @BrianHookerPhD, the current 'outbreak' of measles in Texas is a vaccine-induced outbreak. The mainstream media would love to blame the unvaccinated for this outbreak, but the evidence points in the opposite direction," says a February 20, 2025 X post from Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group once chaired by US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Another February 25 post from Sherri Tenpenny, an osteopath who frequently pushes health misinformation, says: "The measles hysteria is back -- but don't fall for the fear campaign. A rash and fever don't justify mass vaccination with risky shots."

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Screenshots from X and Instagram taken March 3, 2025

The same claim had circulated elsewhere on X, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Gettr.

Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, which usually results in a high fever and rash, and can lead to blindness, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or death.

The current US measles outbreak has mainly been concentrated in the state of Texas -- where local officials have reported 146 cases of the disease and the death of one child as of March 3 -- but infections have appeared in other states, such as New Mexico and New York. The one fatality in the Texas city of Lubbock was the first in the United States since 2015.

Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that around 89 percent of cases were among people who were either unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, while another seven percent only received one of the two recommended MMR jabs (archived here). Many of those infected in Texas belong to a Mennonite religious community that has historically shown some vaccine hesitancy.

Kennedy initially downplayed the outbreak, telling reporters it was "not unusual," but later penned an opinion piece for Fox News encouraging people to receive the MMR vaccine.

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Chart showing weekly measles cases in the US since January 2023, according to CDC data as of February 27, 2025 (AFP / Janis LATVELS, Nicholas SHEARMAN)

'Risk for everybody'

Doctors usually provide measles immunizations in two doses, in shots that also inoculate against mumps and rubella. The CDC recommends that children receive their first MMR dose between 12 and 15 months of age and their second dose sometime between age four and six (archived here).

One dose of MMR vaccine is about 93 percent effective at warding off measles, rising to 97 percent after the second dose. The United States effectively eradicated measles in 2000, thanks largely to the country's vaccination and virus control programs (archived here and here).

Despite online claims, there is no evidence the shots are linked to autism -- nor is there any evidence linking the current outbreak to vaccines.

In his February 20 X post, Children's Health Defense senior science and research director Brian Hooker claims the outbreak likely started after someone received a dose of MMR and contracted the disease from the weakened strain of the virus in the shot. This echoes misinformation that spread during an outbreak in Samoa in 2019.

However, all tested cases in Texas are a type of measles called genotype D8, a wild strain of the disease detected since 1990 and found circulating in Belgium in February amid a string of European outbreaks (archived here and here). The weakened strains of measles found in vaccines are mostly from genotype A, which are now extinct in the wild and only kept for research (archived here and here).

"In children with normal immune systems, the vaccine will not cause full-blown measles," Johns Hopkins infectious disease experts Aaron Milstone and Lisa Maragakis write online (archived here, here and here).

Jon Andrus, a professor of global health at George Washington University who previously served as deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization (archived here), said the MMR vaccine poses few health risks.

"With the measles, rubella, and mumps combined vaccine, it's hard for me to find very many risks. If the nurse is not trained in sterile technique, then there's a risk of local infection, but with the attenuated measles and rubella components, you're not giving an infection," he said on February 28.

Andrus also warned that misinformation about vaccines can lead to outbreaks as some parents come to falsely believe the shots are dangerous or unnecessary.

"The WHO ranks vaccine hesitancy among the top 10 concerns going forward this century, and I agree with that because the more vaccine hesitancy that kicks in due to misinformation or false information leads to a risk for everybody," he said.

Vitamins not a cure

In her Instagram post, Tenpenny encourages viewers not to get vaccinated for measles but to receive high doses of vitamin A. While some studies have shown that vitamin A can help those undernourished or with vitamin deficiencies fight the virus, it is usually not protective and relatively uncommonly prescribed in developed countries (archived here and here).

The CDC issued a statement saying some measles patients could benefit from physician-assisted doses of vitamin A. However, the statement specified that this is a type of "supportive care" to manage the illness's symptoms and is not a cure or stand-alone treatment.

Ronald Cook, Lubbock's city health authority, where some of the most severe Texas cases are being treated (archived here), said vitamin A should not be used to fend off the measles virus and can be toxic if consumed in high doses without a doctor's supervision.

"Those studies were done showing that if you were extremely ill and had the measles and needed to be hospitalized, it shortens the course of the severe illness. Not really a preventative," he said on February 28.

"Let's base our treatment protocols on solid science. That solid science says an MMR vaccine is the best way to prevent measles," he said.

AFP has debunked other claims about vaccines here.