On Tuesday at a press conference, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said that the management of measles cases by his department, including the outbreak in Texas, should be a “model for the rest of the world.”
Kennedy said this is because cases have exploited more drastically in Europe, although he did not offer details about what he believes has worked in the United States response.
“It would compare it with what is happening in Europe,” he said. “They have had 127,000 cases and 37 deaths. And what we are doing here in the United States is a model for the rest of the world.”
While Kennedy numbers are almost precise when the vast European region is observed in 2024, and much higher than the 285 cases in the United States last yearMany factors make it difficult to compare all that region with the United States
Currently, the United States has more than 600 cases so far this year, most of those linked to an current outbreak in Texas, where two children have died from the virus.
“It is misleading to compare the United States with the entire WHO European region, which covers 53 countries with broad disparities in access to medical care, vaccination coverage and surveillance systems,” said Dr. John Brownstein, epidemiologist and director of Innovation at the Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC taxpayer.
“The outbreaks in places like Romania and Kazakhstan are promoting regional numbers, but when it reduces the point of view to the countries most comparable to the United States, such as those of the EU, the image is much closer, and in some cases, better, than we are seeing in Texas at this time,” Brownstein said.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a press conference while visiting the Osher Center for Integrative Health of the Utah University in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 7, 2025.
Jim Urquhart/Reuters, Archive
How do Europe really compare?
He Reports from the World Health Organization The European region, which includes 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia, had 127,350 measles cases and 38 deaths in 2024, based on preliminary data received as of March 6 of this year. This is twice as reported in 2023. Romania reported the largest number of cases in the region by 2024, with 30,692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28,147 cases.
This was the highest case count observed in the region since 1997. Romania reported the largest number of cases in the region by 2024, with 30,692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28,147 cases.
Of the 30 countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EAA) that are more comparable to the US, there were 3,973 measles cases in 2023, but that number grew abruptly to 28,791 measles cases from March 1, 2024 until February 28, 2025, according to The European Center for Disease and Control.
During this period, Romania had 24,215 measles cases, followed by 1,064 in Italy, 591 in Germany, 572 in France and 556 in Belgium.
About 86% of measles cases in EU/EAA countries in Europe were among unaccoured people, 45% of cases in children under five and approximately 30% of cases were in people over 15 years.
“When comparing the USA. With the countries with similar health systems, such as Germany or France, the current outbreak in Texas is not significantly better,” Brownstein said.
Experts have also been concerned about the number of measles deaths in the United States and ABC News has reported that several have said that they believe that cases of cases are significantly higher than what is reported, despite the fact that RFK Jr. affirms “growth rates for new cases and hospitalizations have flattened”, in a position in X.
“We believe that these cases are sub -counted,” Dr. Amesh Amesh Adalja, a senior and academic academic doctor at the Johns Hopkins Center for health safety at a press conference from the Texas Health Services Department on Tuesday on Tuesday on Tuesday on Tuesday. “When you listen to people on the ground, they will have a year to contain, that tells you that it is doing the opposite of flattening.”
“We know that there are really, on average, approximately one death for each of every 1,000 cases,” Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor of the practice of health services, policies and practices at the Faculty of Public Health of the University of Brown, told ABC News. “We have already seen three deaths, which would make you suspect that they are probably more like 3,000 cases.”
“It feels very likely that the count is exceeding 500,” he said, adding: “It is not impossible that there are three deaths among 500 cases, but statistically, one would expect more cases for that number of deaths.”
Now, more than 600 people in the US have confirmed measles cases this year and three people have died, which, if necessary, is about 0.5% of cases, according to data from the data of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This would be much higher than was seen in Romania last year, where 18 people died of measles of more than 30,000 cases, or around 0.06%. When observing the entire European region, only about 0.03% of people with measles died.
Boxes and papers of measles, paper, vaccine against the rubella virus in a vaccine clinic placed by the Lubbock Department of Public Health, March 1, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas.
Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images
Brownstein said this shows that “even smaller shoots can be more mortal when vaccination rates are low.”
Low vaccination rates drivers will be variable in different regions and populations. Researchers have studied Specific factors in the high cases of Romania where Who esteem The vaccine coverage with two doses of MMR is only 62% in 2023.
They identified migratory patterns, the growing vaccine vaccine between parents and the loss of medical care suppliers as significant promoters of vaccination rates that collapse after 2010 due to lack of interest, access, supply and personnel.
Data from who show In Europe, the rates and policies of the measles vaccine are variable per country and only four countries have a vaccination rate of 95% or more with two doses of the measles vaccine, papers and rubella (MMR): Hungary, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia.
On average, in many European countries, rates for a dose of the MMR vaccine vary from approximately 85% to 95% and 75% to 90% for two doses, but vary. In the US, about 91% of children have had a dose of the MMR vaccine for when they turn two years and 92% of adolescents have had two recommended doses, According to the centers for disease control and prevention.
Some European countries Including Germany, France and Italy have mandatory requirements for measles vaccination or immunity for school registration, but parents can reject the vaccine in other countries, where they are only recommended, but they are not required, such as Belgium, Romania and the Netherlands.
Jade A. Cobern, MD, MPH, is certified by the Board in Pediatrics and General Preventive Medicine, and is a medical member of the ABC News Medical Unit. Cheyenne Haslett and Mary Kekatos also contributed to this report.
