Our burgeoning measles outbreaks have spread the old rumor that Vitamin A prevents measles and that sanitation and nutrition are responsible for bringing down measles deaths before we had a vaccine to prevent it.

While measles deaths can be prevented with better access to medical care and nutrition, two doses of MMR vaccine can prevent around 98% of measles cases. Before the measles vaccine in 1964, nearly all children got measles before the age of 15. And even then, 500-600 children died annually.

While sanitation is an important part of public health, it has very little impact on measles, a respiratory virus so contagious that it can remain airborne for up to 2 hours after an infected person leaves the area and infect 9 out of 10 susceptible people.

Vitamin A plays an important role in the immune system, but its levels can drop during an infection, making it harder for the body to absorb and use. If someone has measles, a doctor may prescribe Vitamin A to help stabilize these levels. However, taking too much Vitamin A when it’s not needed won’t provide any benefits and can actually be dangerous.

A new pre-print has anti-vaxxers convinced that people who got the COVID vaccine may have lingering spike proteins for years, which could weaken the immune system and lead to long-term health problems.

This paper, which hasn’t been reviewed by experts yet, has been used by people spreading misinformation to claim that the COVID vaccine is dangerous. However, the study doesn’t say or conclude what they think it does.

The study looks at post-vaccination syndrome (PVS) after COVID vaccination, but there are several issues that make it difficult to draw strong conclusions. First, it only included 42 people who reported health problems after vaccination and 22 healthy vaccinated people. That’s a very small group, and because participants volunteered, the study could be biased. Asking the volunteers to recall and report their own symptoms is another way the study could be biased. There was also no unvaccinated control group to compare results.

The study found a link between vaccination and immune changes, but that doesn’t mean the vaccine caused them. Many of the people in the study had already had COVID, which is known to affect the immune system. This means the changes seen might have been caused by the virus, not the vaccine.

The study found spike protein in the blood of some people up to two years after vaccination.  However, this only happened in a few people, and similar results have been found in those with Long COVID.

Overall, while the study raises questions, it does not prove that COVID-19 vaccines cause serious immune problems. It also doesn’t clearly separate post-vaccination syndrome from long-term COVID-19. Much more research is needed before making strong claims like this.

Anti-vaxxers, unwilling to take the blame for a child in the United States dying from measles in the year 2025, are instead saying that an RSV infection is to blame.

As of now, there is no evidence to suggest that the child who died from measles in Texas last week died from Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).

The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed that the unvaccinated school-aged child tested positive for measles and was hospitalized in Lubbock before passing away. This case marks the first measles-related death in the United States since 2015. The ongoing outbreak in West Texas has resulted in over 159 confirmed measles cases, with only 5 confirmed to have been vaccinated.

No reports from health authorities or credible news sources have indicated that RSV was a factor in this child’s death, rather the health department has affirmed that the child had no underlying health conditions.

Fortunately, there is a vaccine for RSV too.