Image by Getty / FuturismDevelopmentsThe United States just had its first measles death in a decade, the Associated Press reports, a grim inflection point as the extremely contagious yet easily preventable respiratory disease continues to spread nationwide.According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the "school-aged child" was "not vaccinated" before being hospitalized after testing positive for measles.As of this week, there have been 124 confirmed cases since late January in Texas, most of which are affecting children. 18 people have been hospitalized in the state so far, according to the agency.The outbreak has since spread, with nine cases being confirmed in Lea County, New Mexico, which borders Texas.Further cases have been observed in Alaska, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New York City and Rhode Island, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) literally coast to coast, and that's just the ones we know about."This death underscores the real danger of measles it's a severe disease that can take lives despite being preventable with vaccination," epidemiologist John Brownstein told ABC News.According to the World Health Organization, measles vaccinations have averted more than 60 million deaths between 2000 and 2023. Despite the availability of a "safe and cost-effective vaccine," there have been over 100,000 measles deaths around the world, mostly "among unvaccinated or under vaccinated children under the age of five years."The disease was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 thanks to a nationwide vaccination program.Of course, that was then. Nowadays, newly-confirmed Health and Human Services secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., an outspoken vaccine critic, is attempting to downplay the severity of the situation, arguing that "it's not unusual" during this week's Cabinet meeting, as quoted by ABC News."We have measles outbreaks every year,"he said.The CDC recommends that children should get two doses of a widely-available measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.But low vaccination rates continue to be a problem in the US, particularly in religious communities that oppose inoculation.According to state health department spokesperson Lara Anton, the West Texas measles cases were concentrated in a "close-knit, undervaccinated" Mennonite community, the Associated Press reports.Meanwhile, Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency has also gutted the US Agency for International Development, putting potentially lifesaving scientific research into HIV/AIDS vaccines on ice.Share This Article