US flu levels drop below baseline, but kids' deaths approach 200 US flu activity declined steadily last week, with rates of influenza-like illness (ILI) dropping below the baseline level of 3% for the first time in 19 weeks, but flu-related deaths in children climbed to 188, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its weekly update today. CIDRAP

Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 14, ending April 5, 2025

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claims measles vaccine protection 'wanes very quickly' Though he endorsed measles vaccines, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to sow doubt about vaccine safety. NBC News

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called for people to get the measles vaccine while in the same breath falsely claiming it hasn’t been “safety tested” and its protection is short-lived.

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Measles exploded in Texas after stagnant vaccine funding. New cuts threaten the same across the US The measles outbreak in West Texas didn’t happen just by chance. Health officials say the easily preventable disease has ripped through communities sprawling across more than 20 Texas counties in part because health departments were starved of the funding needed to run vaccine programs. AP News

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Measles exploded in Texas after stagnant vaccine funding. New cuts threaten the same across the US The measles outbreak in West Texas didn’t happen just by chance. Health officials say the easily preventable disease has ripped through communities sprawling across more than 20 Texas counties in part because health departments were starved of the funding needed to run vaccine programs. AP News

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US reports highest number of measles cases since 2019: CDC Measles cases have been confirmed in at least 24 states, CDC data shows. ABC News ABC News

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Among the nationally confirmed cases by the CDC, about 97% are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.

Trump’s immigration tactics obstruct efforts to avert Bird Flu pandemic, researchers say Aggressive deportation tactics have terrorized farmworkers at the center of the nation’s bird flu strategy, public health workers say. Ariel Carmona Lake County Record-Bee

Aggressive deportation tactics have terrorized farmworkers at the center of the nation’s bird flu strategy, public health workers say.

Response to multistate measles outbreak hampered by unique set of challenges | CNN The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the ground in Texas for the second time this year, as an ongoing multistate measles outbreak centered in the western part of the state has grown to one of the worst the country has seen in decades. Deidre McPhillips, Neha Mukherjee, Meg Tirrell CNN

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