In early February, Texas health officials reported that measles was spreading among an insular religious community in Gaines County, Texas, where nearly 14 percent of schoolchildren have an exemption (granted in some states for reasons of conscience, including for religious beliefs) from the required childhood vaccinations. The disease has since been detected in a bordering New Mexico county. And this week, the case count grew to at least 99 people. Last year, the US saw 285 measles cases nationwide — the fourth-highest total since 2000.

The outbreak has escalated and will likely soon exceed 100 cases, just as the US’s foremost vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has ascended as its top health care official.

Kennedy promises to probe the safety of childhood vaccines, and in his first actions as the new US Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, Kennedy has already put vaccine advisory meetings on indefinite hold. He has helped cultivate a culture of skepticism toward medical science as the most prominent voice promoting a debunked link between........

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