A measles outbreak is spreading across West Texas, and Dr. Ana Montanez is fighting an uphill battle to convince some parents that vitamin A, touted by vaccine critics as effective against the highly contagious virus, will not protect their children.
The 53-year-old pediatrician in the city of Lubbock is working overtime to contact vaccine-hesitant parents, explaining the grave risks posed by a disease that most American families have never seen in their lifetime – and one that can be prevented through immunization.
Increasingly, however, she also has to counter misleading information. One mother, she said, told her she was giving her two children high doses of vitamin A to ward off measles, based on an article posted by Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy resigned as chairman of Children’s Health Defense and has said he has no power over the organization.
As U.S. health and human services secretary, Kennedy has said vaccination remains a personal choice. He has also overstated the evidence for use of treatments such as vitamin A.
The supplement does not prevent measles and can be harmful to children in large or prolonged doses, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Texas officials said the state’s measles outbreak had grown to 198 cases, including 23 people who were hospitalized. That includes the death of an unvaccinated school-age child at a Lubbock hospital last month.
New Mexico officials have tallied 30 cases and one death of an unvaccinated adult. Those are the first deaths from measles in the United States since 2015.
A 29-year-old nurse and mother of three, Nicole C., visited Montanez’s clinic. She said she values the doctor’s advice and appreciated that she never felt judged for not fully vaccinating her school-age daughter and toddler twins with a second dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
She said she and her husband had prayed about it and believed in their family’s God-given immune systems.
Montanez took her vaccine rejection in stride. The doctor said she has persuaded more than a dozen parents to get their children fully vaccinated in recent weeks.
Brief Summary: A measles outbreak is spreading in West Texas, with misinformation and vaccine hesitancy a major issue. Dr. Montanez is working hard to educate parents and counter misinformation.
