A measles outbreak in West Texas has claimed two lives, and President Trump’s secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is spreading false claims about the disease and the vaccines that nearly eliminated it. In this episode of “The Opinions,” a Times Opinion editor, Alexandra Sifferlin, and an Opinion writer, Jessica Grose, discuss how the successes and failures of our modern health care system brought us to this moment and the Make America Healthy Again movement. We have eliminated “so many things that used to kill so many people that people have forgotten how dangerous those things are,” Grose says.

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You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Opinions” at nytimes.com/column/the-opinions.

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Vishakha Darbha. Edited by Alison Bruzek. Fact-checking by Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Mixing by Pat McCusker. Original music by Carole Sabouraud, Isaac Jones and Pat McCusker. The show’s production team also includes Derek Arthur and Jillian Weinberger. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The Director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.