Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently stated that measles could be treated with simple vitamins, but he admitted on Tuesday that he has never actually helped anyone recover from the disease.
During a session before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, Representative Kim Schrier, who is also a former physician, criticized Kennedy for perpetuating vaccine misinformation and ignoring advice from medical experts while being in charge of public health policy.
“Have you ever treated measles?” Schrier asked.
“No,” Kennedy replied with a short laugh.
Schrier then recounted her own experience treating measles, describing how distressing it can be for children who suffer from high fevers and difficulty breathing. “The great thing is that there’s a vaccine to prevent it,” she emphasized.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) characterized the current measles outbreak in Texas as the worst increase in cases seen in 25 years. Kennedy’s politics, which include unsubstantiated claims linking the vaccine to higher autism rates, have contributed to the lack of urgency surrounding this outbreak.
Furthermore, Schrier accused Kennedy of misleading Senator Bill Cassidy during his confirmation hearings earlier this year, claiming he would not alter the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Cassidy was pivotal in Kennedy securing the Cabinet position.
“But then two weeks ago you fired all 17 experts on that very committee. Did you lie to Senator Cassidy?” Schrier pressed.
Kennedy denied making such a commitment, calling the assertion “inaccurate.” He insisted that he had discussed an agreement with Cassidy multiple times.
Kennedy justified the dismissals by asserting that the 17 members had potential conflicts of interest and proceeded to appoint eight new members, many of whom are known vaccine and COVID-19 skeptics.
In May, he controversially supported a religious community in Texas that opted against vaccination, arguing that the measles vaccine contained “aborted fetus debris” and “DNA particles.”
This claim is misleading; the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine does not have any components from aborted fetuses but instead contains live or weakened viruses along with necessary stabilizers.
The resurgence of diseases like measles is attributed to a growing number of anti-vaccination parents who deny their children the benefits of vaccinations, mostly driven by debunked conspiracy theories. The myth linking vaccines to autism originated from a falsified study, and since then, numerous studies—surveys involving over 660,000 children—have confirmed no link between vaccines and autism.
Nevertheless, Kennedy has a history of mismanaging measles-related issues. Under his leadership, the anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense spread misinformation in Samoa before a serious measles outbreak in 2019. This led to a significant drop in vaccination rates, which plummeted to just 31%, resulting in 5,707 measles cases and 83 deaths, mostly among young children.
