As a measles outbreak spreads across West Texas, Dr. Ana Montanez is fighting an uphill battle to convince some parents that vitamin A – touted by vaccine critics as effective against the highly contagious virus – will not protect their children.
Advertisement
The 53-year-old paediatrician in the city of Lubbock is working overtime to contact vaccine-hesitant parents, explaining the grave risks posed by a disease that most American families have never seen in their lifetime – and one that can be prevented through immunisation.
Increasingly, however, she also has to counter misleading information. One mother, she said, told her she was giving her two children high doses of vitamin A to ward off measles, based on an article posted by Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group led by Robert F. Kennedy junior nearly a decade before he became President Donald Trump’s top health official.
“Wait, what are you doing? That was a red flag,” Montanez said in an interview. “This is a tight community, and I think if one family does one thing, everybody else is going to follow. Even if I can’t persuade you to vaccinate, I can at least educate you on misinformation.”
Kennedy resigned as chairman of Children’s Health Defense and has said he has no power over the organisation, which has sued in state and federal courts to challenge common vaccines including for measles.
Advertisement
The organisation did not respond to a request for comment.