CNN anchor Dana Bash expressed surprise when a health official claimed the Trump administration was an advocate for vaccines.
In the context of a significant measles outbreak in the U.S., particularly in South Carolina, Bash questioned Dr. Mehmet Oz on his show, State of the Union, asking, “Is this a result of the administration weakening support for measles and other vaccines?”
Dr. Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, dismissed her assertion, stating, “I don’t believe so. We’ve supported measles vaccines all along. Secretary Kennedy has been at the forefront of this.”
“Oh, come on!” Bash interrupted, as Oz continued, “When the first outbreak happened in Texas, he urged, ‘Get your vaccines for measles,’ as it’s a disease you should be vaccinated against.”
Oz then discussed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s updated child immunization schedule, which reduced the number of recommended vaccines from 17 to 11. He stated, “What happened with the schedule released last month was looking at what occurred in Europe. If you bombard people with 80 different vaccine doses, they start—”
Bash again interjected, focusing on measles: “But I’m specifically discussing measles. You mentioned RFK Jr. His organization, ‘Children’s Health Defense,’ which he managed until recently, asserted on X that ‘there’s no reason to fear measles,’ despite media narratives.”
She asked, “Should people worry about measles?”
“Oh, for sure,” Dr. Oz replied. “We actively support access to any vaccine. There won’t be any obstacles for Americans to get the measles vaccine.”
When prompted for his message regarding the measles vaccine, Dr. Oz reiterated the importance of vaccination but added some ambiguous comments about vaccines more generally. “Please get the vaccine. It’s a solution we have,” he stated, elaborating, “Not all illnesses are equally dangerous and not everyone is equally vulnerable, but measles is a vaccine-preventable disease.”
While Oz emphasized that the health secretary has always been a strong advocate for measles vaccinations, it’s worth noting that just last May, Kennedy shared conspiracy theories about vaccines on Fox News.
In defending vaccine hesitancy on religious grounds, Kennedy claimed that the current MMR vaccine contains “particles created from aborted fetal tissue.”
This kind of rhetoric, coupled with Kennedy’s unfounded claims about vaccines causing autism, has drawn criticism, especially as vaccination rates have plummeted.
MMR vaccination rates dipped below the 95 percent herd immunity threshold in 2021, and flu vaccine uptake has also decreased. In some areas of South Carolina, childhood vaccination rates are as low as 82.5 percent.
