A Texas couple is still staunchly anti-vax despite the death of their 6-year-old child from measles earlier this month, according to NBC News.
The parents, who are Christian Mennonites, were interviewed by the anti-vaccine advocacy group Children’s Health Defense (CHD) ,which was previously led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the current Health and Human Services Secretary.
During the interview, which was conducted in both English and Low German by CHD Executive Director Polly Tommey and Chief Scientific Officer Brian Hooker, the child’s mother warned other parents “don’t do the shots” adding that Measles is “not as bad as the media is making it out to be.”
She added that all four of their other children, ages two to seven, had also contracted measles and their symptoms improved after they were treated by a physician in Lubbock, Texas using cod liver oil and inhaled steroids.
Those are not conventionally recommended medical treatments, but has been pushed by Kennedy, who claimed in a Fox News interview that they produce “very, very good results,” without providing evidence.
“We would absolutely not take the MMR,” the mother said in English, referring to the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination. “The measles wasn’t that bad. They got over it pretty quickly,” referring to their surviving children.
But it’s likely that the surviving siblings would have had mild cases regardless of the untested treatments given that one in five unvaccinated children with measles suffer severe cases that require hospitalization, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The father meanwhile insisted that getting measles actually made their children healthier because it helps build up their immune system. However experts say that is not true.
“Whenever you get measles, you lose some of your immune memory,” Professor Stephen Elledge, from Harvard Medical School told NPR. “And the more severe your case of measles is, the longer it lasts, the more of your immune system is destroyed.”
The couple told CHD that their daughter had measles for days before her breathing became labored and they took her to the hospital. The child was intubated and died days later.
The child’s father said she died of pneumonia which is a very common cause of death for measles patients. The couple believes their child’s death was the will of God.
“It was her time on Earth,” the translator said. “They believe that she’s better off where she is now versus all the negativity and all the stuff going on. They think she was too good for this earth.”
The CDC currently recommends people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective.
“Vaccination remains the best defense against measles infection,” the CDC said in a statement. “Measles does not have a specific antiviral treatment. Supportive care, including vitamin A administration under the direction of a physician, may be appropriate.”
