RFK Jr’s long, complicated history with the measles vaccines

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week made his strongest endorsement yet of the measles vaccine amid an ongoing outbreak that has killed three and infected more than 600 people across the US.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week made his strongest endorsement yet of the measles vaccine amid an ongoing outbreak that has killed three and infected more than 600 people across the US. But his recent push for people to get vaccinated for measles stands in stark contrast to Kennedy’s years of work against measles vaccines, including suing the state of New York for its vaccine mandates, and making numerous claims that the shot is dangerous and unnecessary. Kennedy’s comments on X last Sunday that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, “is the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles” set off vaccine critics who saw the statement as a betrayal of the health secretary’s longtime views on vaccine safety. “Bobby Kennedy was our founder, but Bobby Kennedy is now the Secretary of HHS,” Mary Holland, CEO of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, said in a video statement. “He certainly left off that in my personal experience, and in the personal experience of many people at CHD, the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine was extremely injurious.” Holland went on to repeat disproven claims that the MMR vaccine causes autism. The health secretary followed up this Thursday with a Fox News interview, where he told host Martha MacCallum that it is “very hard to tell” whether measles deaths this year could have been averted with vaccinations. “We need to do better at treating kids who have this disease, and not just saying the only answer is vaccination.”