In the dusty outskirts of Seminole, Texas — just past the cotton fields and under the relentless spring sun — Peter Hildebrand stands outside a gas station, his eyes rimmed red and voice cracking with grief.
‘She did not die of the measles,’ he said of his daughter, Daisy. ‘If there’s one thing you should know, it’s that. She was failed.’
Eight-year-old Daisy Hildebrand is the second child to die in the escalating measles outbreak gripping West Texas, where antivaccine conspiracy thinking has become rife and there has been an erosion of trust in public institutions.
The death was confirmed to be from measles by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hidlebrand, however, claims his daughter’s death was not caused by the virus, but by a failure in her medical care, a lack of proper treatment and prejudice against their faith.
The family are Mennonite, part of a small Christian community that often emphasizes ‘natural remedies’ over modern medicine.
DailyMail.com spoke to several locals, including young mothers, farmhands and truckers, in Seminole who were skeptical about vaccines.
They falsely claimed the vaccines contained ‘dangerous stuff’ and that big pharma used them to make money.
Vaccine exemptions in Gaines County, where Seminole is based, are among the highest in the state and nationwide. About 13 percent of children attending local schools have a conscientious exemption for vaccines, compared to three percent nationally.
Pictured above is Peter Hildebrand with his wife Eva and two of his children. They met with anti-vaccine crusader RFK Jr, health secretary, after the death of their daughter
Eight-year-old Daisy Hildebrand is the second child to die in the escalating measles outbreak gripping West Texas
Daisy, once a healthy and energetic child, got sick about a month ago. She came down with a fever, sore throat, and eventually pneumonia.
The family tried to treat their daughter at home with cod liver oil, popular in the community for helping to ‘strengthen the immune system’.
But when that failed, they took her to the hospital.
Doctors diagnosed her with strep throat, mononucleosis, a contagious viral infection, and measles. She was given antibiotics and sent home.
But within three days, her condition worsened. Rushed back to the hospital with severe pneumonia, she was treated again — this time unsuccessfully.
Daisy was the second child to die in the outbreak. Six-year-old Kayley Fehr, also unvaccinated and from the same Mennonite community, succumbed just weeks earlier.
They both mark the first deaths from measles in the US in a decade.
More than 700 cases of measles have been recorded nationwide so far this year, with 541 of these recorded in Texas.
This number of cases is the worst since 2019 and is on track to become the worst in decades.
In the Texas outbreak, 70 percent of cases – or more than two thirds – are among children and young babies.
Though measles itself is viral, it weakens the immune system and leaves patients vulnerable to deadly secondary infections, especially pneumonia.
But Mr Hildebrand rejects that explanation in Daisy’s case — and places little faith in the vaccines public health officials are urging the community to adopt.
‘The [MMR] vaccine ain’t worth a damn,’ he added.
‘My brother’s family got it and they all still got sick — worse than my unvaccinated kids. This isn’t about the vaccine.’
The measles vaccine is 93 percent effective at preventing infections after one dose, and 97 percent effective after two doses.
Joselyn doesn’t want to get her children vaccinated despite the outbreak because she claims to know people who’ve had adverse reactions
Judy said her family hasn’t got the MMR vaccine because they ‘don’t like the things in it’
Without vaccination, however, there is a high risk of suffering from a measles infection – which is particularly dangerous in children under five years old.
In unvaccinated children, about one in five who are infected with measles are hospitalized, while one in 20 suffer from pneumonia, according to the CDC.
One in 1,000 will also develop encephalitis, a swelling on the brain that can lead to convulsions, going deaf and intellectual disability, and about one to three in every 1,000 die from the disease.
The Mennonite community’s relationship with vaccination is complicated. Though scripture doesn’t strictly forbid vaccines, many in the community believe it should be a personal choice.
About 3,000 people in Gaines County follow the Mennonite faith, according to figures from 2010, out of the more than 22,000 residents.
At the same time, Gaines County has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country: just 82 percent of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine last year — far below the 95 percent threshold required for herd immunity.
Despite the outbreak, hesitancy remains.
At Healthy 2 U, a Mennonite-run supplement shop in Seminole, shelves are stocked with cod liver oil rich in vitamin A — an alternative therapy promoted by some vaccine skeptics as a natural defense against measles.
‘We recommend it to everyone who gets sick,’ says store manager Nancy, a mother of 10 and grandmother of nineteen.
But there are some who are still in favor of vaccination.
In a parking lot outside Walmart, DailyMail.com met two Mennonite women — Helen and Helena. One said she vaccinated her children, saying it was the right thing to do, while the other said she didn’t vaccinate her children believing infections like measles ‘make their immune system stronger’.
Steven, a local designer, said everyone should get vaccinated
The above shows the entry-way to the measles testing and vaccination center in West Texas
The town of Seminole, with just 7,000 residents, has been quietly grappling with the epidemic. Outside the local testing and vaccination clinic, DailyMail.com saw a slow trickle of patients — many coming for blood tests to determine if they have measles antibodies, a form of proof of immunity.
Still, many in the town are skeptical. Some believe the outbreak is slowing; others say they’re hearing of ‘more patients than ever’.
Local health director Zach Holbrooks says traffic to the clinic varies, with some days seeing no patients and others over a dozen.
He urges vaccinations, calling them the best protection against hospitalization and death.
Signs around town warn of the outbreak, but they’re easy to miss.
Without large banners or public broadcasts, visitors may pass through Seminole and be completely unaware that the nation’s worst measles outbreak in years is unfolding here.
Hildebrand is determined, however, to overturn the report that his daughter was killed by measles.
He recently met with RFK Jr during a visit to the area earlier this month. ‘He didn’t mention vaccines once,’ Mr Hildebrand says. ‘But he was the nicest man I ever met.’
After his visit, RFK Jr wrote on X: ‘The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.’
As Daisy was laid to rest alongside Kayley in a modest Mennonite churchyard, her father hopes her story sparks reflection — if not on vaccines, then on care, compassion, and the urgent need to protect the vulnerable.
‘She was my little girl,’ he says softly. ‘And they let her down.’
