On today’s show: NBC has what to know about a growing measles outbreak in Texas. Meanwhile, changes to a CDC vaccine panel under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could reshape policy. NPR explains how. The Justice Department is in turmoil after prosecutors who were ordered to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams quit in protest. Reuters reporter Sarah Lynch discusses the resignations. Immigrants drive Nebraska’s economy. NPR reporter Jasmine Garsd describes how Trump’s mass-deportations pledge has many of them living in fear. Plus, Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on his firing of a top official in a whistleblower-protection office. Police said a slain transgender man faced “prolonged” violence and torture in a case investigators described as “beyond depraved.” And at least eight people are dead after “historic” flooding in Kentucky. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Full Episode
Good morning. It's Monday, February 17th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, protest resignations at the Department of Justice. Nebraska, a state that relies on an immigrant workforce, braces for deportations, and disaster in Kentucky after deadly floods. But first, an outbreak of measles is sweeping through parts of Texas.
State health authorities report at least 48 confirmed cases, but say as many as 300 people might be infected. It's Texas's worst outbreak of the highly contagious disease in 30 years. The majority of confirmed cases are in Gaines County, along the New Mexico border.
The Texas Department of State Health Services says every infected person is either unvaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown. Most of the confirmed cases are school-aged children.
It is troubling because this is completely preventable.
That's Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician at Johns Hopkins, speaking to CBS.
And I think this is really a reminder that measles is still a risk and it is kind of the canary in the coal mine. And it's the most contagious infectious disease known to humans.
The measles virus can live in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours. That means an unvaccinated person can catch the illness even without being in the same room as an infected person.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the outbreak in Gaines County is largely concentrated in the Mennonite population, a religious sect that one Texas health official described as close-knit and under-vaccinated. In the county, nearly 18 percent of all kindergartners were exempt from the measles vaccine in the 2023 to 2024 school year. That's much higher than the national average of 3.3 percent.
This outbreak comes as the nation's leading health official, newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., faces ongoing scrutiny for his long history of anti-vaccine activism. He downplayed that history in his confirmation hearings and told senators he believes vaccines play a critical role in health care.
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