Was the Measles ‘Outbreak’ in West Texas Manufactured?

By Paul Bond, Investigative Reporter, The Kennedy Beacon

The “school-aged child,” who died during what the mainstream press is hyperbolically framing as a measles “outbreak” with an epicenter in Gaines County, West Texas, was a 6-year-old girl who may have also had RSV pneumonia, sources told The Kennedy Beacon.

Another source told the Beacon that the girl’s parents asked for breathing treatments while their daughter was hospitalized, though none were provided.

The death of the girl, who belonged to the tight-knit Mennonite community, marks the first fatality in what the press is calling a rapidly escalating health crisis. Her death, however exactly she died, has helped propel the manufactured ‘measles mania’ spin, raising questions about the media’s agenda in fanning public panic.

Such panic has already hit the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), which is recommending vaccinations for everyone.

Measles spreads through coughing and sneezing, and the concentration of cases in Gaines County suggests a hotspot. The mainstream media is largely blaming the limited immunity on fewer vaccinated Mennonites.

But, without hard evidence, the media has also suggested in no uncertain terms that the girl died from the measles. Did she?

A source said it was only after admission to the hospital that testing revealed the child had measles, leaving uncertain whether she brought the virus with her or encountered it in the hospital.

A spokeswoman for Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock said privacy laws prevented her from confirming any details about the deceased patient.

Sources also told the Beacon that the deceased girl was unvaccinated because of allergies that made the measles vaccine medically inadvisable — a condition known as a contraindication, where the risk of a severe allergic reaction outweighs the vaccine’s benefits. But, again, the cause of the girls’ death has yet to be determined; there is no forensic evidence that her not being vaccinated had anything to do with her death.

Photo by Getty Images

A source within the Mennonite community in Gaines County told the Beacon that the girl’s initial hospitalization in Lubbock was not for measles but for RSV pneumonia, a dangerous respiratory condition triggered by the respiratory syncytial virus.

Dr. Brian Tyson, who gained notoriety for his endorsement of hydroxychloroquine, zinc and azithromycin for Covid -19, posted on X Monday that his sources say the child who died in Texas was 6 years old, adding: “She died because the hospital refused to give her breathing treatments that the parents asked 4 times to give her.”

And over the weekend Dr. Syed Haider, known for his work on vaccine injuries and long Covid, posted on X that the child “apparently” had pneumonia and RSV.

Haider added: “Word is they vaccinated while sick for measles, which isn't supposed to be done. Then the child died and [that] was called a measles death. Par for the course. Post vax will shed live measles virus from the shot and tests can easily misinterpret that as a wild type measles infection.”

The Beacon also spoke to Dr. Ben Edwards, who, over the weekend, treated the deceased girl’s four siblings, all of whom were infected with measles, though the parents didn’t trust the hospital to properly care for them.

Edwards said he treated the four children — and dozens more in the Mennonite community — with Tylenol, cod liver oil, fluids and vitamins A and C. He also gave them budesonide, a medication typically used for asthma, though he says he learned during the Covid -19 pandemic that it can be effective for treating viral infections.

Edwards said those he treated have seen very quick results, and that the father of the deceased girl contacted him within 24 hours to give him an update.

“The dad told me he woke up in the middle of the night, panicked, because his house was so quiet while the previous nights were filled with coughing,” said Edwards. “The children were sleeping peacefully after the first treatment, and a day later they were laughing and playing.”

Edwards said that the children, who apparently have the measles, are in a low socio-economic bracket and appeared under-nourished, and that those conditions are not confined to Mennonites in the area.

Tina Siemens, who has become a de-facto spokeswoman for the Mennonite community in Texas, told the Beacon that Mennonites are being “targeted” for discrimination by, for example, being asked to wear masks before entering a health clinic.

She said hospital administrators did not allow the four siblings of the now-deceased girl to visit their sister prior to her death.

Siemens, a member of the Seminole, Texas, Mennonite community who migrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1977 as her family sought economic opportunity and religious freedom, said reporters have been hounding the deceased girl’s parents, including at Sunday’s funeral.

“They feel they are very harshly targeted just because they are from the Mennonite community and they made the choice not to vaccinate,” said Siemens.

Photo by The Associated Press

The news media has, for the most part, placed the blame for the measles “outbreak” on the Mennonite community. Headlines include, “Texas: Mennonites at center of measles outbreak choose medical freedom over vaccine mandates” (Associated Press); “The Religious Community at the Center of Texas' Measles Outbreak” (Newsweek); and “"Who are the Mennonites in a Texas community where measles is spreading?” (CNN).

“The world is really targeting the Mennonite culture,” Siemens complained. “They’re saying it is only the Mennonites who are unvaccinated, uneducated. That’s untrue. Many Mennonites choose to vaccinate, and some don’t. It’s not due to religious beliefs, and many who are not Mennonite are also not vaccinated.”

Photo by The Associated Press

Mennonites, she said, “read more and research statistics more than those who simply say their doctor told them to vaccinate their child.”

Edwards agreed, saying: “There’s a reason for vaccine hesitancy, and that reason will be discussed in front of cameras in an appropriate setting, in a non-divisive way. I think the Mennonites will be proven quite wise.”

Siemens, who said she was vaccinated as a child in 1977, confirmed the deceased child was a 6-year-old girl but asked the Beacon to withhold her name.

Allegedly admitted to a Lubbock hospital for RSV pneumonia – a condition that can flood the lungs and strain breathing – the now-deceased girl faced a double threat when measles emerged.

The DSHS didn’t disclose details of the case when the Beacon emailed several specific questions, including: “Why did she enter the hospital? Did she have the measles upon admission, or something else? Did she get measles while in the hospital?”

Nevertheless, social media posts cast doubt on the narrative from government and hospital officials, as is often the case when details are withheld, especially in the post-Covid era after several official proclamations proved untrue.

Thus far, though, the DSHS is reporting that “there has been one fatality in a school-aged child who lived in the outbreak area. The child was not vaccinated and had no known underlying conditions.”

The DSHS website reports that the outbreak spans nine Texas counties, with 159 confirmed cases as of Tuesday. Gaines County accounts for 107 of these, easily making it the hardest-hit area.

Among the infected, 79 had not received the measles vaccine, five had, and the vaccination status of 62 others remains unclear. The majority – 127 cases – are children and teens ages 0-17, while 27 are adults 18 years and older, and five cases are still pending age verification. Eighty of those diagnosed with measles were unvaccinated, five were vaccinated and 74 are categorized as “unknown status.”

While speculation has circulated on social media that the current “outbreak” is a “vaccine strain,” authorities say that the D8 strain is the driver, and it is a naturally occurring type of measles known for its high transmission rate.

The DSHS advises two MMR injections for full immunity or one for those already infected to mitigate symptoms. Edwards, the doctor who is caring for the family of the deceased child, worries about the latter recommendation.

“Historically, we wouldn’t give MMR to a child with fever, and the people I was treating were not interested in getting it,” he said. “It’s definitely a conversation that needs to be had. Why are other treatments not promoted as aggressively as MMR?”

Nevertheless, all government health agencies consider MMR to be safe, though acknowledge it can cause fever, rash or injection-site discomfort. It can also trigger a severe allergic reaction.

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) says fewer than 10 deaths per year can be linked to the MMR vaccine, though a 2010 Harvard Pilgrim Health Care study indicated that VAERS captures only 1 percent of vaccine adverse effects.

“People like to argue with the results of that study, but it’s the only one I know of. So if VAERS says five died of MMR in a certain year, it could be hundreds,” said Edwards.

On Sunday, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote at FoxNews.com that “vaccines not only protect children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.”

Kennedy also wrote that there is no approved antiviral for those who may be infected, but that vitamin A can dramatically reduce measles mortality. The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN and others have criticized Kennedy for his recommendation, accusing him of downplaying the efficacy of the vaccine.

Among the alleged adverse reactions some doctors say are associated with MMR vaccines are autoimmune disorders and neurological damage, sometimes attributed to the ingredients or the act of vaccination itself.

Dr. Ben Tapper, who was censored during Covid after being dubbed a member of the “Disinformation Dozen,” posted on X last month that “measles was a benign issue and was never a scary disease until the rollout of the vaccine. Once you have measles, naturally, you will have lifelong immunity to the disease, which is far superior to any artificial immunity that comes from a needle.”

In the 1800s, measles would kill tens of thousands of people annually, though by 1960 the number was slashed by 98 percent due to improvements in sanitation and nutrition, according to Kennedy. The MMR vaccine’s advent in 1963 further drove the mortality rate down.

Even so, throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, many children remained unvaccinated, their parents preferring to rely on natural immunity once recovering from the measles.

The attitude even played out in popular culture, with a 1969 episode of “The Brady Bunch” featuring all six children happily missing school after contracting measles.

According to the CDC, the year that episode first aired there were approximately 25,000 cases of measles, likely causing roughly 40 deaths, though exact numbers aren’t available. The CDC says there were 285 cases of measles in 2024 and no reported deaths.

“If you have to get sick, sure can’t beat the measles,” Marcia Brady says in the 1969 episode, while her sister, Jan, is excited because she won’t have to get a shot.