Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rhetoric on Texas’s measles outbreak is concerning physicians, who fear his public guidance is misguided and verges on being dangerous as he promotes vitamins and steroids as ways of treating infections.

The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) says 159 measles cases have been identified, including one unvaccinated child who died last week shortly after being hospitalized.

Only five of the infected individuals are confirmed to have been vaccinated against measles. Physicians in the state have urged that parents isolate their children and ensure that all members of their household have received a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to mitigate the spread.

About 80 percent of the measles cases in Texas have been found in children.

Kennedy has long questioned the safety and efficacy of vaccines, particularly the MMR vaccine.

In the face of the outbreak, he seemingly softened his stance, writing in an op-ed for Fox News that the vaccines “not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity,” though he maintained that getting immunized should be a personal choice.

At the same time, Kennedy has begun promoting the use of vitamin A, cod liver oil and the steroid budesonide as a way of treating measles, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updating its guidance on measles management to include “physician-administered outpatient vitamin A.”

There are no antivirals specifically indicated for measles. Most cases will resolve on their own rest at home. People who are hospitalized for measles receive supportive care until they recover.

HHS did not respond to a request for comment on Kennedy’s promotion of vitamin........

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