‘These are needless deaths’: Vaccine misinformation will lead to more deaths from measles outbreak, ousted US scientist tells Sky News
America’s ousted vaccine chief has told Sky News there will be more deaths from a growing measles outbreak unless the US government shifts its rhetoric on vaccination.
“Ultimately, they’re not gonna be able to run from reality,” said Dr Peter Marks, former head of vaccines at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Dr Marks also echoed concerns among public health experts that the federal administration’s stance on vaccinations and cuts to global health initiatives could make the world, including America, more vulnerable to other preventable diseases.
There have been 935 confirmed cases of measles in the US, with outbreaks in six states and cases reported in 23 others.
There are also related outbreaks in Mexico and Canada, which share links to the Mennonite religious community in which the US outbreak took hold.
There have been outbreaks in Mexico and Canada, which share links to the Mennonite religious community. Pic: AP
Dr Marks was forced to resign as the director of the FDA’s Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research in March after clashing with incoming US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr over his stance on vaccines and scientific evidence.
RFK Jr has come under intense criticism from public health experts after continuing, despite the outbreak, to endorse alternative and unproven ways to prevent and treat measles.
Secretary Kennedy has since publicly endorsed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine as the safest and most effective way of preventing measles.
But at the same time, he has continued to criticise the MMR jab.
RFK Jr has endorsed alternative and unproven ways to prevent and treat measles. Pic: AP
MMR – one of the safest and most well-studied vaccines in history – is credited with virtually eliminating measles in the US and much of the developed world in the early 21st century.
Uptake of the vaccine is now falling.
On Friday, as the latest data confirmed measles cases continued to rise, Secretary Kennedy instructed the federal agencies to review the use of alternative drugs in combination with vitamins for the treatment of measles and other diseases.
In an interview the same day, while maintaining he is not opposed to vaccination, Secretary Kennedy repeated erroneous claims that the MMR jab contains “aborted foetus debris and DNA particles”.
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From March: Why are measles cases so high?
‘These are needless deaths’
Three people have died in the US outbreak so far, two of them children. None had been vaccinated against measles.
“It’s fully appropriate to say that these are needless deaths,” said Dr Marks. “And we’re going to be having more of those if this measles outbreak continues to spread.”
He also believes public health experts need to get better at preventing “misleading information and lies” around vaccination to take hold.
“We have yet to find the kind of active, unified voice that we need to say: ‘hey guys, stop this stuff’,” said Marks.
“These people over there, they’re entitled to their opinion, but they don’t have to harm your kids by broadcasting it.”
He is careful not to directly criticise the man who forced him from his position at the FDA, urging him, instead, to listen to reason.
“To consider alternative viewpoints from those who have a lot of knowledge and experience,” said Marks.
File pic: Reuters
‘A sad day for America’s children’
Others are less cautious about criticising RFK Jr: Paul Offit, a vaccinologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said: “When he was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, I think that was a sad day for America’s children.
“He has for 20 years been a virulent anti-vaccine activist, science denialist and conspiracy theorist.”
Prof Offit is also concerned about his impact on the rest of the world.
“We export our fears and I think with social media now, it’s much easier to amplify those fears.”
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Uptake of the MMR jab is falling in the UK and parts of the EU. Cases of measles have increased there too but, with the exception of Romania, to a lesser extent than in the US.
An increase in measles, one of the most infectious diseases known to science, is often “an early warning sign” of falling vaccination rates more widely, according to the head of the UK’s vaccine advisory committee, Prof Andrew Pollard.
“Just as we’ve seen whooping cough outbreaks here in the UK over the last couple of years,” said Pollard.
“It’s not just MMR where the [vaccination] rates are lower, it’s also other vaccines where we’re not getting such high coverage.”
File pic: Reuters
According to the World Health Organisation, 138 countries have reported measles cases with 61 experiencing large outbreaks. The highest number globally since 2019.
The situation could now get worse after the Trump administration froze the US annual contribution to the WHO, which stood at $960bn last year and has threatened to cut $300m for the global vaccine alliance (GAVI).
“That money not coming through for our next strategic cycle would mean that we will be unable to vaccinate about 75 million children,” said Sania Nishtar, CEO of GAVI.
According to GAVI, that could lead to well over a million additional child deaths over the next five years from diseases like Malaria, meningitis and yellow fever.
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GAVI is urging the US administration to reconsider a funding cut, in part because US businesses manufacture many of the vaccines it supplies, but also because it keeps the US safe.
“We are the only agency in the world that maintains the stockpiles of vaccines,” said Nishtar.
“If there’s an Ebola outbreak anywhere in the world, we would be the ones mobilising the stockpiles to ensure that the outbreak is contained. There and then, preventing it from reaching American shores.”
Dr Marks predicts that the administration will be forced to shift its stance if the outbreak continues to grow and vaccine-hesitant Americans begin to witness the typically unseen impact vaccinations have.
He said: “As the deaths start to crank up, public opinion will certainly change because they will see once again what happens when people around them are dying or getting very sick.”
Three people have been critically injured after a helicopter crash in Sacramento, according to the Californian city’s fire department.
Images from the scene show a medical helicopter lying upside down on the eastbound lanes of Highway 50.
The helicopter had taken a patient to a hospital and was returning to the place it had been dispatched from when it experienced an “in-air emergency” just after 7pm local time (3am UK time), according to Captain Justin Sylvia, from the Sacramento Fire Department.
He said there were a pilot, nurse, and paramedic on board at the time of the crash, who were taken to local hospitals in “critical condition”. Mr Sylvia said the crew consisted of two women and one man.
The helicopter could be seen lying upside down after the crash
One of the women was trapped underneath the helicopter, with civilians on the highway helping the fire department to lift part of the helicopter out of the way to free the victim and get her into an ambulance.
“It took every ounce of all approximately 15 people to move that aircraft up just enough to get her out,” Mr Sylvia said at a news conference.
He added: “There’s a pretty large debris field around that at this point. The lucky portion for us, I’d say, is the fact that the helicopter did not catch on fire.”
Captain Justin Sylvia from the Sacramento Fire Department said people helped free an injured person trapped under the helicopter
No vehicles were involved in the crash and no one on the highway was injured, Mr Sylvia said, adding that this was “mind-blowing” given that the helicopter crashed in the centre of the road.
“People reported that they basically saw the helicopter kind of going down quickly. So all the traffic slowed down,” he explained.
Sacramento City councilwoman Lisa Kaplan said she was on a ride-along with local law enforcement responding to the crash.
Law enforcement officers stand near the wreckage of the helicopter. Pic: AP
She described plumes of white smoke coming out of the crashed helicopter.
“It’s really sombering and sobering. I am up flying with sheriff pilots that do this day in and day out. And it really makes you grateful for every day and grateful for our officers and our medical pilots,” she said.
The road is expected to be closed for an extended time, according to Officer Michael Harper, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol.
The helicopter could be seen lying on its side after the crash
“The cause of the crash is still under investigation,” his colleague, Officer Mike Carillo, added.
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The helicopter appears to belong to REACH Air Medical Services, which confirmed to ABC7 that three of its crew were hurt in the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal request from Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned ex-girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, over her criminal conviction.
Maxwell was sentenced in June 2022 to 20 years in prison after being convicted in December 2021 on sex trafficking charges.
Her lawyers argued she never should have been tried or convicted for her role in luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.
Undated picture of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein. File pic: US Department of Justice
Undated picture of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein. File pic: US Department of Justice
The nine justices declined to take up a case that would have drawn renewed attention to the sexual-abuse saga.
US President Donald Trump and his administration, which urged the court not to accept the case, have been condemned for refusing to publicly release all the files from Epstein’s case.
Maxwell was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she was interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July.
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As usual, the justices on the highest court in the US did not explain why they turned down the appeal.
Maxwell’s legal team argued she shouldn’t have faced prosecution because of a deal that Epstein, who took his own life while in prison in 2019, made with federal prosecutors in Miami.
The 2007 agreement protected his “potential co-conspirators” from federal charges anywhere in the country, they said.
Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida with Jeffrey Epstein in 1997. Pic: Getty Images
Jeffrey Epstein. File pic: New York State Sex Offender Registry/AP
Maxwell was prosecuted in Manhattan, and the federal appeals court there ruled that the prosecution was proper.
A jury found her guilty of sex trafficking a teenage girl, among other charges.
Maxwell was given limited immunity when Mr Blanche interviewed her over the summer, allowing her to speak freely without fear of prosecution for anything she said except for in the event of a false statement.
She repeatedly denied seeing any sexually inappropriate interactions involving Mr Trump, according to records released in August meant to distance the president from the disgraced financer.
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As the president was arriving in the UK for his second state visit, his image was being projected on to the side of Windsor Castle alongside that of Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and was accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls.
A month later, he was found dead in a New York jail cell in what investigators described as a suicide.
Maxwell’s move to a lower security facility was criticised by the family of Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Giuffre, who died in April, and accusers Annie and Maria Farmer.
Describing Maxwell as a “sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions”, they said in a statement the transfer “smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better”.
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When it announced in July that no additional documents from the investigation would be released, the US Justice Department declared that Epstein had killed himself, despite conspiracy theories to the contrary.
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A “client list” that US Attorney General Pam Bondi had intimated was on her desk did not actually exist, the department said.
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Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 300 National Guard members to Chicago, the latest in a string of cities where US troops have been sent.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson confirmed the US president authorised the move, citing what she called “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness” that local leaders have not quelled.
“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” Ms Jackson said.
Chicago is the latest city in the US where Mr Trump has authorised the deployment of US troops, as it follows similar orders for Los Angeles, Washington and Portland.
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Democratic governor JB Pritzker branded the move unnecessary and “a manufactured performance – not a serious effort to protect public safety”.
The Illinois governor said in a statement: “This morning, the Trump administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will.
“It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
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It comes as an attempt by the Trump administration to deploy the National Guard in Portland, Oregon, was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in a lawsuit brought by the state and city.
The plaintiffs said a deployment would violate the US constitution as well as a federal law that generally prohibits the military from being used to enforce domestic laws.
Mr Trump ordered the deployment of troops to “war-ravaged Portland” last week, authorising the use of “full force” if needed.
The move came after a gunman opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas, wounding two detainees and killing another.
Mr Trump sent the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and to Washington DC, as part of his law enforcement takeover there.
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