在周二的新闻发布会上，卫生与公众服务部部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪表示，他的部门对麻疹病例的处理，包括得克萨斯州的疫情，应该成为“世界其他地区的榜样”
肯尼迪说，这是因为欧洲的病例激增，尽管他没有具体说明他认为美国的应对措施奏效了。
“我会把它与欧洲正在发生的情况进行比较，”他说。“他们有12.7万个病例，37人死亡。因此，我们在美国所做的事情为世界其他地方树立了榜样。”
尽管肯尼迪引用的数字在2024年对广阔的欧洲地区来看几乎是准确的，而且远远高于去年美国有285例许多因素使得很难将整个地区与美国进行比较。
今年到目前为止，美国目前有600多例病例，其中大多数与德克萨斯州正在爆发的疫情有关两名儿童死于这种病毒.
波士顿儿童医院(Boston Children's Hospital)的流行病学家兼首席创新官约翰·布朗斯坦(John Brownstein)博士说，“将美国与整个世卫组织欧洲地区进行比较是一种误导，该地区横跨53个国家，在医疗保健服务、疫苗接种覆盖率和监测系统方面存在巨大差异，”他也是美国广播公司新闻的撰稿人。
布朗斯坦说:“罗马尼亚和哈萨克斯坦等地的疫情推动了地区数字，但当你把视野缩小到更接近美国的国家，如欧盟国家，情况就更接近——在某些情况下，比我们现在在德克萨斯州看到的情况更好。”
欧洲究竟如何比较?
这世界卫生组织报告根据截至今年3月6日收到的初步数据，包括欧洲和中亚53个国家在内的欧洲地区在2024年有127，350例麻疹病例和38例死亡。这是2023年报告病例数的两倍。罗马尼亚报告的2024年病例数在该区域最高，为30，692例，其次是哈萨克斯坦，为28，147例。
这是该地区自1997年以来最高的病例数。罗马尼亚报告的2024年病例数在该区域最高，为30，692例，其次是哈萨克斯坦，为28，147例。
据报道，在欧盟和欧洲经济区(欧盟/EAA)的30个国家中，2023年有3973例麻疹病例，但从2024年3月1日到2025年2月28日，这一数字急剧增长至28791例欧洲疾病控制中心.
在此期间，罗马尼亚有24215例麻疹病例，其次是意大利1064例，德国591例，法国572例，比利时556例。
在欧洲的欧盟/EAA国家，约86%的麻疹病例发生在未接种疫苗的人群中，45%的病例发生在5岁以下的儿童中，约30%的病例发生在15岁及以上的人群中。
布朗斯坦说:“当你将美国与拥有类似卫生系统的国家(如德国或法国)进行比较时，当前德克萨斯州疫情的规模并没有明显改善。”
专家们也对美国麻疹死亡人数表示担忧美国广播公司新闻报道一些人表示，他们认为病例数明显高于报道的数字，尽管小RFK在x上的一篇帖子中声称“新病例和住院人数的增长率已经持平”
“我们认为这些病例被低估了，”传染病医生和约翰·霍普金斯健康安全中心的高级学者Amesh Adalja博士在周二的德克萨斯州健康服务部门新闻发布会上说。“当你听到地面上的人说这将需要一年的时间来控制，这告诉你它正在变平。”
布朗大学公共卫生学院卫生服务、政策和实践副教授克雷格·斯潘塞博士告诉美国广播公司新闻说:“我们知道，平均来说，每1000例病例中就有一例死亡。”。“我们已经看到三例死亡，这可能会让你怀疑这可能更像是3000例。”
“感觉非常非常有可能超过500例，”他说，并补充说，“500例病例中有3例死亡不是不可能的，但从统计数据来看，预计死亡人数会更多。”
根据世界卫生组织的数据，美国今年已有600多人确诊麻疹病例，三人死亡，如果准确的话，这大约占病例的0.5%疾病控制和预防中心.
这将远远高于罗马尼亚去年的水平，去年该国3万多例病例中有18例死于麻疹，约占0.06%。放眼整个欧洲地区，只有约0.03%的麻疹患者死亡。
布朗斯坦说，这表明“当疫苗接种率较低时，即使较小的疫情也会更加致命。”
疫苗接种率低的驱动因素在不同地区和人群中会有所不同。研究人员研究了罗马尼亚高病例数的具体因素有哪些世卫组织估计到2023年，两剂MMR疫苗的覆盖率仅为62%。
他们认为，2010年后，由于缺乏兴趣、途径、供应和工作人员，迁移模式、父母对疫苗越来越犹豫不决以及卫生保健提供者的流失是疫苗接种率骤降的主要驱动因素。
世卫组织数据显示在欧洲，麻疹疫苗接种率和政策因国家而异，只有四个国家的麻疹、腮腺炎和风疹(MMR)疫苗接种率达到95%或更高:匈牙利、马耳他、葡萄牙和斯洛伐克。
在许多欧洲国家，平均而言，一剂MMR疫苗的接种率在85%至95%之间，两剂疫苗的接种率在75%至90%之间，但各不相同。在美国，大约91%的儿童在两岁时接种了一剂MMR疫苗，92%的青少年接种了推荐的两剂疫苗，根据疾病控制中心的说法.
欧洲的一些国家包括德国、法国和意大利在内的一些国家对入学儿童进行麻疹疫苗接种或免疫接种有强制性要求，但在比利时、罗马尼亚和荷兰等其他国家，家长可能会拒绝接种疫苗，因为这些国家只推荐接种疫苗，而不强制接种。
RFK Jr. praises measles response in Texas, US by making comparison to Europe
On Tuesday at a press conference, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his department's handling of measles cases, including the outbreak in Texas should be a "model for the rest of the world."
Kennedy said this is because cases have exploded more drastically in Europe -- though he didn't offer specifics on what he thinks has worked in the U.S. response.
"I would compare it to what's happening in Europe," he said. "They've had 127,000 cases and 37 deaths. And so what we're doing here in the United States is a model for the rest of the world."
While the numbers Kennedy cited are nearly accurate when looking at the vast European region in 2024, and much higher than the285 cases in the U.S. last year, many factors make it difficult to compare that entire region to the U.S.
The U.S. currently has more than 600 cases so far this year, most of those linked to an ongoing outbreak in Texas, wheretwo children have died from the virus.
"It's misleading to compare the U.S. to the entire WHO European region, which spans 53 countries with wide disparities in health care access, vaccination coverage and surveillance systems," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital, and an ABC News contributor.
"The outbreaks in places like Romania and Kazakhstan are driving the regional numbers, but when you narrow the view to countries more comparable to the U.S., like those in the EU, the picture is much closer -- and in some cases, better -- than what we're seeing in Texas right now," Brownstein said.
How does Europe really compare?
TheWorld Health Organization reportsthe European region, which includes 53 countries in Europe and central Asia, had 127,350 measles cases and 38 deaths in 2024, based on preliminary data received as of March 6 this year. This is twice the number reported cases in 2023. Romania reported the highest number of cases in the region for 2024, with 30,692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28,147 cases.
This was the highest case count seen in the region since 1997. Romania reported the highest number of cases in the region for 2024, with 30,692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28,147 cases.
From the 30 countries in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EAA) that are more comparable to the U.S., there were 3,973 measles cases in 2023 but that number grew steeply to 28,791 cases of measles from March 1, 2024 to Feb. 28, 2025, according tothe European Centre for Disease and Control.
During this timeframe, Romania had 24,215 measles cases, followed by 1,064 in Italy, 591 in Germany, 572 in France and 556 in Belgium.
About 86% of measles cases in EU/EAA countries in Europe were among unvaccinated people, 45% of cases were in children under five years old and about 30% of cases were in people aged 15 and older.
"When you compare the U.S. to countries with similar health systems -- like Germany or France -- the scale of the current outbreak in Texas is not meaningfully better," Brownstein said.
Experts have also been concerned about the number of measles deaths in the United States andABC News has reportedseveral have said they believe case counts are significantly higher than what's being reported, despite RFK Jr. claiming "the growth rates for new cases and hospitalizations have flattened," in a post on X.
"We think these cases are undercounted," Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease doctor and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security said at a Texas Department of State Health Services press conference on Tuesday. "When you're hearing people on the ground say this is going to take a year to contain, that tells you that it's doing the opposite of flattening."
"We know that there's really, on average, about one death for every around 1,000 cases," Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, told ABC News. "We've already seen three deaths, which would make you suspect it's probably more like 3,000 cases."
"It feels very, very likely that the count is higher than 500," he said, adding, "It's not impossible for there to be three deaths among 500 cases, but statistically, one would expect more cases for that number of deaths."
Now, more than 600 people in the U.S. have confirmed cases of measles this year and three people have died, which if accurate is about 0.5% of cases, according to data from theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.
This would be much higher than what was seen in Romania last year, where 18 people died from measles out of more than 30,000 cases, or about 0.06%. When looking at the entire European region, only about 0.03% of people with measles died.
Brownstein said this shows "that even smaller outbreaks can be deadlier when vaccination rates are low."
Drivers of low vaccination rates are going to be variable across different regions and populations.Researchers have studiedspecific factors in Romania's high case counts whereWHO estimatesvaccine coverage with two MMR doses to only be 62% in 2023.
They identified migratory patterns, growing vaccine hesitancy among parents and loss of health care providers as significant drivers of vaccination rates plummeting after 2010 due to lack of interest, access, supply and staff.
WHO data showsin Europe, measles vaccine rates and policies are variable by country and only four countries have a 95% vaccination rate or higher with two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine: Hungary, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia.
On average across many European countries, rates for one dose of the MMR vaccine range from about 85% to 95% and 75% to 90% for two doses, but vary. In the U.S., about 91% of children have had one dose of the MMR vaccine by the time they turn two years old and 92% of teens have had the recommended two doses,according to the CDC.
Some countries in Europeincluding Germany, France and Italy have mandatory requirements for measles vaccination or immunity for school enrollment, but parents may be able to decline the vaccine in other countries where it is only recommended but not mandated such as Belgium, Romania and the Netherlands.
