RFK Jr. calls for CDC plan for alternative measles treatments

• Kennedy has also previously touted vitamin A and other drugs such as the inhaled steroid budesonide and oral antibiotic clarithromycin as treatments for measles.
• Experts have said there is no evidence that any treatments can speed up recovery from measles and pediatricians have called his claims about budesonide and clarithromycin "unproven and risky."

What they're saying: "Secretary Kennedy will be enlisting the entire agency to activate a scientific process to treat a host of diseases, including measles, with single or multiple existing drugs in combination with vitamins and other modalities," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told Axios in an email Thursday evening.

• He said the effort will be conducted in collaboration with universities to "develop protocols, conduct testing, and pursue approval for new uses of safe and effective therapeutics that meet the highest scientific standards."

• The agency will continue to recommend measles vaccines as the most effective way to prevent the disease, Nixon said.
• The guidance plan was first reported by CBS News.

Catch up quick: HHS is also proposing that all new vaccines undergo safety testing in placebo-controlled trials, a move that raised concerns it could slow vaccine approvals, such as new versions of COVID vaccines.