U.S. health secretary heads to Texas after 2nd unvaccinated child dies of measles-related illness

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. travelled to West Texas on Sunday after a second unvaccinated school-aged child died from a measles-related illness.

Ahead of a "Make America Healthy Again" tour across the southwestern United States, Kennedy said in a social media post that he was in Gaines County to comfort families who had to bury two young children who have died. Seminole, Texas, is the epicentre of a measles outbreak that started in late January and continues to swell, with nearly 500 cases in the state alone.

He said he was also working with Texas health officials to "control the measles outbreak."

The child, who did not have underlying health conditions, died on Thursday from "what the child's doctors described as measles pulmonary failure," the Texas Department of State Health Services said on Sunday in a news release. Aaron Davis, a spokesperson for UMC Health System in Lubbock, Texas, said that the child was "receiving treatment for complications of measles while hospitalized."

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