DALLAS — The parents of a six-year-old girl who died of measles in late February told an anti-vaccine activist organization they remain opposed to vaccinations. “We would absolutely not take the MMR,” the mother told representatives from Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit that conducted the interview and posted it online. The MMR is the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine which researchers have proven to be safe and highly effective at preventing measles.
The parents’ names are not revealed in the interview, and they switched between English and German with the use of a translator at various points. The family is part of the Mennonite community in West Texas identified by the state as the center of a measles outbreak that began in January and has since infected more than 300 people. The mother and father said their daughter was the first of their five children to become infected.
She developed a rash before her fever spiked and her breathing became abnormal, the mother said. They took the child to a hospital in Lubbock where she ended up in ICU and on a ventilator. Pneumonia is a complication that can develop from measles infections.
The girl was unvaccinated. Children’s Health Defense was founded by Robert F. Kennedy, now the Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Donald Trump.
It promotes an anti-vaccine agenda. The Children’s Health Defense representatives never appear on camera during the interview, but their voices are heard asking abou.
