As of press time Monday morning, Gov. Greg Abbott has offered no new public comment on Texas’ ongoing measles outbreak nor an urging for people to get vaccinated, even as state officials confirmed Sunday that the disease had claimed the life of a second child.
An 8-year-old girl died Thursday in a Lubbock hospital from measles pulmonary failure, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed over the weekend. Like the first child, who died in late February, the second, identified in media reports as Daisy Hildebrand, wasn’t vaccinated.
The measles outbreak is Texas’ worst in 30 years, and it’s so far infected at least 481 people, mostly children. Fifty-six people have been hospitalized since the outbreak was first documented in January. Even so, Abbott’s office has only issued one statement on social media about the outbreak, a Feb. 28 tweet stating that his office is in contact with health officials and “will deploy all necessary resources” to keep Texas safe. While the governor said the state has dispatched “immunization teams” to affected areas, his tweet included no call for unvaccinated Texans to get shots.
Indeed, the Republican governor’s social media feeds on Sunday were full of messages extolling school vouchers, his chief priority this legislative session. His press office, which normally fires off several news releases a week, has also sent nothing about the latest fatality.
Abbott’s office did respond to a Current’s request for comment, however, sending an emailed statement in which it called Hildebrand’s death a “heartbreaking tragedy.”
“The Governor’s Office remains in close contact with the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) regarding the outbreak,” continues to the statement, attributed not to the governor but his press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris. “DSHS has sent epidemiologists, immunization teams, and specimen collection units to impacted areas. The State Medical Operations Center is overseeing resource allocation and providing daily updates while coordinating with local health officials and emergency response teams. Texas will continue deploying every necessary resource to protect the health and safety of Texans.”
The statement included nothing urging Texans to get vaccinated against measles and no information stressing vaccines’ success rate in preventing the disease. The MRR vaccine has proven 97% effective against measles, according to federal health officials, and all but a handful of the Texas cases have been among people who haven’t been vaccinated, or had unclear vaccine status.
Abbott’s silence about the importance of MRR in combating the outbreak comes as many in the Republican Party’s right flank embrace vaccine skepticism.
After pushback from members of his own party during the COVID-19 pandemic, Abbott issued executive orders banning municipalities from enacting their own mask and vaccine requirements. Texas GOP lawmakers have also filed numerous bills this legislative session to weaken or remove vaccine requirements.
During a press call last week, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, blasted Abbott for not using his sizable megaphone to urge people to get vaccinated.
“This is the worst outbreak of measles we’ve seen in years and years, and Gov. Abbott has hardly said a word,” said Castro. “He has not encouraged people to get vaccinated even though this is a very serious health situation, especially for our young people. I hope the governor will step up, will put in place a full vaccination campaign for the state and encourage folks to get vaccinated.”
Dr. Alan Melnick, public health director for Clark County, Washington, which grappled with a 2019 measles outbreak, in late February told the Texas Tribune he’s shocked at the apparently lack of urgency the Lone Star State has shown over its rising number of cases.
While unvaccinated students in the area around the West Texas outbreak have been allowed to attend school, Clark County ordered all unvaccinated pupils to stay off campus for 21 days — whether or not they’d been exposed.
“I’m just blown away,” Melnick told the Tribune. “This is not politics. I’m just talking science and medicine here.”
During a measles outbreak, about one in five children who get sick will need hospital care and one in 20 will develop pneumonia, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Along with complicating pregnancies, measles can lead to swelling of the brain and death.
In comments to the Dallas Morning News, Dr. Peter Hotez, a Baylor College of Medicine professor in pediatrics and molecular virology-microbiology, said both of Texas’ measles deaths are tragic and unnecessary. The fatality rate for measles is one to three per every 1,000 cases, he added, suggesting the epidemic is larger than the state’s official numbers make out.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s closer to 1,000 [cases],” Hotez told the Morning News.
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This article appears in Apr 2-15, 2025.
