The CDC has recorded cases from Alaska to Florida, as well as in New York City.
Second US Child Dies from Measles as Nearly 650 Cases Reported: Officials. A measles outbreak in the southwestern United States has claimed the life of another child, officials said, as the highly contagious disease spread to nearly 650 people.
“We are deeply saddened to report the death of a school-age child who was recently diagnosed with measles,” Aaron Davis, vice president of UMC Health System, a medical center in Texas, told the media.
The child was being treated in the hospital for “complications of measles,” he said, adding that “he had not been vaccinated against measles and had no known underlying health conditions.”
As the United States grapples with its worst measles outbreak in years, President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has alarmed health experts with past statements that downplay the importance of vaccines.
However, Kennedy tweeted on Sunday that “the MMR vaccine is the most effective way to stop the spread of measles.”
He added that his Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are supporting the distribution of shots in Texas.
Kennedy, who said he had traveled to Texas to comfort the child’s family, also reported “642 confirmed cases of measles in 22 states, 499 of which are in Texas” as of Sunday.
When asked by reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump appeared to downplay the outbreak, saying “it’s a very small number of people so far compared to what we’re talking about.”
But he added, without elaborating, that if it “does develop, we’re going to have to take action very strongly.”
The importance of vaccination
The CDC has recorded cases from Alaska to Florida, as well as in New York City.
Texas reported its first measles death in late February, also of a child, the first U.S. fatality from the disease in nearly a decade.
The death of a New Mexico adult last month was also classified by the CDC as a measles-related death.
The CDC said on April 3 that most measles cases reported by the CDC — 97 percent — are in people who have not been vaccinated against measles.
Of those, 196 were under five years old, 240 were ages 5-19, and another 159 were ages 20 or older, with some of unknown ages, the health agency said.
The CDC, which defines an “outbreak” as three or more related cases, has recorded six outbreaks so far in 2025. About 93 percent of confirmed cases are related to those outbreaks.
“In comparison, there were 16 outbreaks reported during 2024 and 69 percent of cases (198 of 285) were associated with outbreaks,” it said on its website.
“This unfortunate event underscores the importance of vaccination,” Davis of the UMC Health System in Texas said in an email regarding the latest death.
“We encourage all individuals to stay up-to-date with their vaccinations to protect themselves and the wider community.”
