RFK: MMR vaccine is the "most effective way" to prevent measles spread
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Capitol Hill in January. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advocated for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine during a visit to West Texas on Sunday to comfort two families whose children died of the disease.
Why it matters: Kennedy has been criticized for downplaying measles risks and the efficacy of vaccines, notes Axios' Marc Caputo, who first reported on the secretary's visit to Texas.
- The secretary has a long record of sowing skepticism about vaccines.
Driving the news: Both children in Gaines County who died of measles were not vaccinated, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
- Texas has the largest number of reported measles cases in the U.S. Kennedy wrote on X Sunday that 499 of the 642 confirmed cases in 22 states were in Texas.
What he's saying: Kennedy said on X Sunday he's visiting Gaines County, Texas, to "quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief."
- He said he's also there to support Texas health officials and to learn how our HHS agencies "can better partner with them to control the measles outbreak."
- Kennedy pointed to the deployment of a CDC team "to bolster local and state capacity for response across multiple Texas regions, supply pharmacies and Texas run clinics with needed MMR vaccines and other medicines and medical supplies," among other measures he said he'd taken.
- "Since that time, the growth rates for new cases and hospitalizations have flattened," Kennedy said. "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine."
Of note: Kennedy wrote on X later Sunday he'd met with two doctors, whom he described as "extraordinary healers," and said they had treated children using the steroid aerosolized budesonide and the antibiotic clarithromycin —which STAT News notes are "unorthodox, unproven" treatments for measles.
- Budesonide, which is used to help prevent asthma symptoms "may weaken your immune system," per the Mayo Clinic, which warns: "Avoid being around people who are sick or who have infections such as chickenpox or measles."
- When Kennedy promoted unconventional therapies for measles last month, health experts moved to emphasize they were not medically accepted treatments for the disease.
Flashback: In the face of criticism of his handling of the federal response to the outbreak, Kennedy wrote an op-ed for Fox News Digital last month with the headline "Measles outbreak is call to action for all of us" and the subheading "MMR vaccine is crucial to avoiding potentially deadly disease."
- In the article, Kennedy wrote: "Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons," but said the decision to vaccinate is "a personal one."
Go deeper: White House fed up with RFK Jr.'s sluggish press shop
Editor's note: This article has been updated with more comment from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and further context.
