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. A news conference is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.

MBFC
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  • TheCelticPirate@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    That poor kid. Easily preventable if they didn’t have stupid parents. At what point can we hold the parents accountable?

    • corsicanguppy
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      2 hours ago

      We’ve done that up here, for parents trying to treat childhood illnesses with distilled water and kale smoothies. Parents went to jail, grandparents are raising the child, if I remember right.

    • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
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      9 hours ago

      When the parents are irresponsible, most other nations step in and make the responsible choice for their children in their place, whether the dumb parents like it or not.

      But in the US, the state is even more irresponsible than the parents.

      What a sad, sad country it has become…

      • Dr. Zoidberg@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        The only one that suffered, and paid any consequences, was that poor kid. They should be charged with child endangerment, and probably manslaughter, since this was completely avoidable.

        • TipRing@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          I think in Texas it would be criminally negligent homicide, but I doubt the conservative justice system there will punish anyone for intentionally not preventing a deadly disease.

          • Billiam@lemmy.world
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            8 hours ago

            I think in Texas it would be criminally negligent homicide

            Nah, it wasn’t a fetus so this is just a perfectly normal case of God’s Will.

      • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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        9 hours ago

        I’m pretty sure they’d say that god’s plan, like every other bit of knowledge that might improve their lives, is unfathomable.

        Despite most of the rest of the world fathoming it just fine.