Former CDC official warns misinformation could fuel measles outbreak

Dr. Debra Houry said Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies were pushing measles information “not based on science or reality,” a warning she tied to the risk of parents delaying vaccination while outbreaks were still spreading. Houry, who resigned in protest from the health agency, said aides at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had pressed CDC staff for years-old data on measles deaths during the outbreak, a demand she said showed how misinformation can distort a public health response.

Her comments came against the backdrop of the country’s worst measles surge since the disease was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the nation recorded 800 measles cases from January 1 to April 17, 2025, then the second-highest annual total in 25 years at that point. The agency said 82% of those early cases were tied to an ongoing outbreak in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, with 85 patients hospitalized and three deaths.

The outbreak only grew from there. The CDC later reported 2,289 confirmed measles cases in 2025, spread across 48 outbreaks, and said 90% of confirmed cases were outbreak-associated. In Texas alone, the Texas Department of State Health Services said 762 cases had been confirmed by August 12, 2025, and 99 patients had been hospitalized. More than 2,000 cases were reported nationwide that year, including hundreds in a West Texas outbreak linked to the deaths of two children.

Houry’s critique carries weight because it comes from inside the agency charged with tracking and containing outbreaks. She was one of several senior CDC officials who left amid turmoil at the agency, including after Susan Monarez was pushed out as CDC director in August 2025. That instability mattered in a year when measles, once considered eliminated, spread most aggressively in close-knit communities with low vaccination coverage.

The CDC has long warned that large measles outbreaks, defined as 50 cases or more, have become more frequent in those communities. Houry’s warning suggests that the damage is not only biomedical but institutional: conflicting signals from senior federal officials can weaken confidence in vaccines, blur basic outbreak guidance and make it harder for local health workers to persuade hesitant families to protect their children.