<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A Texas doctor who has been treating children in a measles outbreak was shown on video with a measles rash on his face in a clinic a week before Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met him and praised him as an “extraordinary” healer.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Dr Ben Edwards appeared in the video posted March 31 by the anti-vaccine group Kennedy once led, Children’s Health Defence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In it, Edwards appears wearing scrubs and talking with parents and children in a makeshift clinic he set up in Seminole, Texas, ground zero of the outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people and killed three, including two children.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/rockdale-teens-critically-seriously-injured-in-alleged-hit-run-in-sydneys-south/d1c8cc0e-012d-4141-9f2e-73d06fb134dc"><strong><span>Teens critically, seriously injured in alleged hit-run in Sydney's south</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Edwards is asked whether he had measles, and he responded, “Yes,” then said his infection started the day before the video was recorded.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Yesterday was pretty achy. Little mild fever. Spots came in the afternoon. Today, I woke up feeling good,” Edwards said in the video.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Measles is most contagious for about four days before and four days after the rash appears and is one of the world's most contagious diseases, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/video-shows-doctor-with-measles-treating-kids-rfk-jr-later-praised-him-as-an-extraordinary-healer/7b0c12a0-15b0-4bc8-b247-84a00b8a0404" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Doctors and public health experts said Edwards' decision to go into the clinic put children, their parents and their community at risk because he could have spread it to others.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They said there was no scenario in which Edwards' conduct would be reasonable.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kennedy met with Edwards about a week after the video was posted by Children's Health Defence, the group Kennedy led for years until December.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In an April 6 post on X, Kennedy said he “visited with these two extraordinary healers,” including Edwards and another doctor, and praised their use of two unproven treatments for measles.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/oberon-man-shot-during-hunting-trip-in-nsw-central-tablelands/5fbda4a7-c1fc-4878-bac0-5c4a56ad559c"><strong><span>Man shot during hunting trip in NSW</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Even as measles has exploded in Texas and spread across the country, Kennedy, the nation's top health official, has declined to consistently and forcefully encourage people to vaccinate their children and remind them that the vaccine is safe.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kennedy's post drawing attention to Edwards is inappropriate but unsurprising given Kennedy's record, said Dr. Craig Spencer, a medical doctor who is also a professor at the Brown University School of Public Health.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I think is unfortunately perfectly on-brand for how he thinks that medicine should be practiced," Spencer said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And that is what makes me remarkably uncomfortable and extremely concerned and scared for the next three-and-a-half years.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It was unclear whether Kennedy knew that Edwards had gone into his clinic while infected with measles before meeting him.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A spokesperson for Kennedy said he is not anti-vaccine and that he is “committed to improving children’s health in America and has re-deployed resources to Texas to help with the current outbreak.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He did not answer why the health secretary chose to meet with and praise Edwards rather than any of the other doctors in West Texas who have been treating children in the outbreak.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/san-remo-woman-dead-man-missing-after-group-washed-off-rocks-at-victorian-beach-near-phillip-island/4d8f9932-7f4e-4e83-8f75-b7688e9e73a3"><strong><span>Woman dead, man missing after group washed off rocks at Victorian beach</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Edwards told The Associated Press in an email that he “interacted with zero patients that were not already infected with measles” during the time he was infectious.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Therefore, obviously, there were no patients that were put in danger of acquiring measles since they already had measles.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Jessica Steier, a public health scientist, said the video shows Edwards in the room with people who do not appear sick, including parents of sick children and the people who visited the clinic from Children's Health Defence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She also questioned what steps Edwards was taking to confirm people were sick with measles, rather than relying on guesswork.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Steier, who runs the Science Literacy Lab and co-wrote an article about Edwards' conduct, said while there may be some extraordinary emergencies where it would be appropriate for a sick doctor to work, this is not one of those situations because there is no shortage of providers who are not infected.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She also pointed out that the video shows Edwards was not wearing a mask.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“You have the HHS secretary lifting him up," she said. "You know, it’s so, so dangerous. I really feel for the people who are on the ground.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/videos/national/shark-sighting-near-beach-in-adelaide/cm9mjp34d000k0hpbf2d87fap" rel="" target="_blank" title=" Shark sighting near beach in Adelaide"><strong><span>Shark sighting near beach in Adelaide</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Children’s Health Defence has sued a number of news organizations, among them the AP, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kennedy's promotion of a doctor who has touted unproven measles treatments is “wholly irresponsible” but is in line with Kennedy's long public record of anti-vaccine views, said Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He said Kennedy has carried those views to his new job as the head of the US Department of Health and Human Services.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He’s not the director of Children’s Health Defence anymore. He’s responsible for the health and well-being of children in this country,” Offit said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“It's an emergency, but Kennedy is not treating it that way.”</span></div></div>