WASHINGTON — Amid a growing outbreak of measles in Texas, recently confirmed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is urging parents to vaccinate their children against the disease.

Last week, a child who was hospitalized with measles in Texas has died, state health officials said. It marks the first death in the state's latest outbreak — the largest such outbreak in close to 30 years — which has left at least 146 people infected.

In the 18 days since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, his department has postponed or canceled two major vaccine advisory committee meetings,