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Unproven remedies for treating measles peddled by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are complicating doctors’ efforts to deal with an outbreak in West Texas.
The “remedies” are being utilized primarily by parents — many of whom have anti-vaccine views — to treat and prevent measles in their children, and include consuming high doses of vitamin A, sometimes in the form of cod liver oil.
While vitamin A is sometimes used to help manage measles symptoms for people with lower levels of immunity, it is not effective in preventing a person from contracting the virus, whereas two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is 97 percent effective. Even after contracting measles, it is advised that any use of vitamin A to treat the virus be supervised by health professionals.
Excessive consumption of vitamin A can result in serious health complications — indeed, several unvaccinated children in Texas have had to be treated for liver damage due the vitamin-based regimen some families are using, a children’s hospital in Lubbock, Texas, announced.
The increase in parents using vitamin A as the primary treatment for measles — despite no scientific backing — comes after Kennedy has downplayed the outbreak for weeks and falsely promoted the treatment option as effective.
In late February, Kennedy claimed that measles outbreaks happen “every year,” ignoring the fact that, two decades ago (and prior to anti-vaccine sentiment gaining prominence in the U.S.), measles was considered effectively eliminated in the country due to vaccination campaigns successfully lowering case numbers. The current outbreak also exceeds numbers from recent years — only three months into the year, 2025 has seen the highest number of measles cases in the U.S. since 2019.
Kennedy has acknowledged that vaccines are effective at preventing the spread of measles, but also peddled the lie that vaccination isn’t as effective as direct exposure to the virus — advice that is dangerous, especially for children, as measles can result in death or lifelong complications.
Doctors have identified 327 cases of measles in the Texas outbreak, mostly in unvaccinated children. Cases outside of Texas are also cropping up, including a confirmed case of a person in Washington, D.C. being diagnosed with the virus.
That person reportedly traveled on an Amtrak train through several cities on the East Coast before being treated at an urgent care clinic last week, potentially exposing others to the virus. While in D.C., the individual also “visited multiple locations” while they were contagious, district health officials said.
In total, there have been 378 confirmed cases of measles across 17 states in the U.S. since the start of the year. Nine out of 10 of those cases were “outbreak-associated,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
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