New Mexico’s congressional delegation has pushed Kennedy to urgently address the current outbreak, urging him to “launch a vaccination promotion campaign” and rehire recently fired federal health workers, among other measures, in a letter on Monday.

“Just last Friday, two dozen employees at the CDC charged with training public laboratory staffers and supporting outbreak response efforts were fired,” the state’s two senators and three House members, all Democrats, wrote.

“Those firings will worsen outbreaks and ultimately threaten the health of all Americans in the face of the next public health emergency.”