US vaccine expert blames policy failures for measles outbreak in Texas

Multiple measles outbreaks in Texas have pushed US cases to their highest level in more than 30 years, a vaccine expert said.

Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told PTI in an exclusive interview that the resurgence of measles and pertussis (whooping cough) reflects gaps in both state and federal vaccination policy.

The policy gaps are both at the state level, especially in 18 US states such as Texas and elsewhere, allowing nonmedical vaccine exemptions for reasons of personal belief. And now in 2025, with this new Administration at the federal level for the first time seeking to limit access to MMR vaccines or vaccines with aluminium adjuvants, all for ideological, non-scientific reasons, he said.

 

He also pointed to failures in vaccine advocacy. The advocacy gap comes from the US Secretary of HHS, who on an almost weekly basis makes disinformed public statements and promotes antivaccine disinformation, Hotez added.

Hotez reiterated similar concerns in his MSNBC interview on All In with Chris Hayes, noting that measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases can rebound quickly when immunisation coverage slips.

Texas health officials have urged parents to ensure children are fully vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Hotez warned that unless vaccination coverage rebounds and misinformation is countered, preventable diseases could return to levels not seen in decades.