Vaccines and Measles Outbreaks

President Donald Trump’s surgeon general nominee, Dr. Casey Means, tells senators in newly released written answers that Americans should “take the measles vaccine,” reversing her refusal at a public hearing last month to directly urge parents to vaccinate their children against measles. In responses obtained by MS NOW, Means aligns herself with CMS chief Mehmet Oz and acting CDC Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, quoting Bhattacharya’s statement that the MMR vaccine is the most reliable way to prevent measles and calling the ongoing outbreak “largely preventable” with vaccination. Her clarification comes as South Carolina battles nearly 1,000 measles cases and CDC data show three U.S. children died of measles last year amid declining childhood immunization rates and rising vaccine skepticism among some Trump officials. Means still couches safety judgments by saying vaccines are a “key part” of infectious-disease strategy while the FDA decides whether they are safe and effective, a formulation likely to be scrutinized as the Senate health committee weighs whether to advance her nomination to the full Senate.