A child who was not vaccinated has died from measles in West Texas, the first death in an outbreak that began late last month and the first from measles in the U.S. since 2015.
The death was a “school-aged child who was not vaccinated” and had been hospitalized last week, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday in a statement. Lubbock health officials also confirmed the death, but neither agency provided more details.
Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 124 cases across nine counties, which state health officials have said is Texas’s largest in nearly 30 years. There are also nine cases in eastern New Mexico.
“The loss of a child is a tragedy” and Gov. Greg Abbott and his wife are praying for “the family, loved ones and the entire Lubbock community,” Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said. He added that the …