Texas measles outbreak could become public health disaster: Tom Frieden

NEW YORK — A former top federal health official is publicly warning health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that wavering on vaccines and slashing federal programs during a deadly measles outbreak could unleash the next public health disaster. 

“The federal government might pause, but the measles virus doesn’t pause. Bacteria and viruses don’t pause. They accelerate when we let down our guard,” Tom Frieden, who served as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director for eight years under President Obama, said during the STAT Breakthrough Summit East on Thursday. Frieden is now president and CEO of the nonprofit Resolve to Save Lives. 

His comments come a week after the Trump administration withdrew its nominee to lead the CDC, former Congressman Dave Weldon, after concerns about his views on vaccines imperiled Senate votes. Weldon questioned the safety of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines in particular over the years, paralleling some of Kennedy’s theories.