RFK Jr tells US families to vaccinate children against measles amid outbreak
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, on Sunday told American parents that they should get their children vaccinated against measles, as the surge in infections has reached numbers not seen in the past 35 years.
Kennedy, a leading vaccination skeptic who has spent years amplifying misinformation about vaccines, including the shot that protects against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), made his call in the course of a contentious interview with CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning.
His remark came as the incidence of measles crossed a milestone – the US has now officially recorded 2,371 confirmed infections so far this year, surpassing the total tally in 2025 of 2,289.
Taken together, the past two years have seen more measles infections in the US than the rest of the 21st century combined. The last time a greater number of measles cases were recorded in a single year was in 1991. […]
Kennedy continues to shrug off criticism that his work as a prominent vaccine skeptic, both before and after he entered the Trump administration, has exacerbated the problem. Asked whether he took any responsibility for the measles surge, he said: “Absolutely not.”
Of course not, and after he’d grudgingly said this pro-vaccine thing, he then reverted to form:
Kennedy used the CNN exchange to spread further misinformation about other aspects of public health. He claimed that both respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that is a major cause of infant mortality and Lyme disease were caused by manipulation of germs in laboratories.
The suggestion has been contradicted by decades of scientific evidence that suggest they both have natural roots. RSV was initially identified in the 1950s, two decades before such experimentation, known as “gain-of-function” research, started.
During the interview, Kennedy repeated unfounded claims that there was a link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism, and poured doubt on the efficacy of vaccines to protect children against Covid-19.
In other words, lying as per usual. But he’s been caught on video saying that parents should in fact get their kids jabbed, and that’s a weapon the Democrats need to hammer him with the next time he goes off on a lying spree like this.
