RFK Jr. Insists Measles Are Under Control Right After Two People Die

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed the U.S. is doing “a better job than any country in the world” at curbing measles.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the preeminent leader of the nation’s anti-vax movement, is suddenly blaming the Covid-19 lockdowns for the current surge in measles-related deaths.

Two unvaccinated people died from measles in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, this month, spurring calls for Kennedy’s resignation. So far this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 2,777 measles cases, far exceeding the tally for 2025 by hundreds of cases.

Yet despite having made a career out of pushing anti-vax falsehoods, Kennedy dodged any responsibility for the recent uptick, telling reporters at a conference on school nutrition Wednesday that the blame should be directed at the regional lockdowns that took place during Donald Trump’s first term in 2020. Kennedy suggested that lapses in vaccination records six years ago had deleterious effects on America’s current measles immunization rates.

“This is a worldwide epidemic, and it’s happening because of the lockdowns, because many kids did not get vaccinated during the lockdowns,” Kennedy said.

Sec. Kennedy on measles deaths in Pennsylvania: “We're doing a better job than any country in the world at controlling the measles outbreak. This is a worldwide epidemic, and it's happening because of the lockdowns, because many kids did not get vaccinated during the lockdowns.” pic.twitter.com/mU5Tk1Ta2K— BulwarkClips (@BulwarkClips) August 26, 2026

Sec. Kennedy on measles deaths in Pennsylvania: “We're doing a better job than any country in the world at controlling the measles outbreak. This is a worldwide epidemic, and it's happening because of the lockdowns, because many kids did not get vaccinated during the lockdowns.” pic.twitter.com/mU5Tk1Ta2K

Yet publicly available data published by the agencies Kennedy oversees proves him wrong. While it’s difficult to know exactly what percentage of the American population is actively inoculated against measles, the vaccination rates of children—who are most likely to contract the illness—are recorded by federal agencies.

According to CDC data, vaccination coverage for U.S. kindergartners fell by nearly three percentage points—from 95.2 percent to 92.4 percent—between the 2019–2020 school year and the 2025–2026 school year. The dip is more significant than it seems at face value: The lowered figures place the age groups below the threshold for herd immunity (95 percent), which would protect even unvaccinated members of a community.

Measles does not have a cure. The disease can cause a blotchy rash, pink eye, a high fever, white spots inside the mouth, full body aches, pneumonia, and severe dehydration. It can result in hospitalization or even death.

Fortunately, however, it is highly preventable thanks to a vaccine that was developed by a couple of American scientists in 1963. Less than a decade later in 1971, researchers created yet another vaccine capable of preventing measles as well as two other contagious illnesses—mumps and rubella—due to miraculous developments in modern medicine. The joint shot was named the MMR vaccine, an acronym for “measles, mumps, and rubella.” Kennedy has railed against the three-in-one shot, baselessly claiming that it was not “safely tested.”

The vaccine that Kennedy so loathes was so effective that measles was declared eradicated from the U.S. in 2000, a status determined by the lack of continuous transmission of the disease over a period of 12 months or more. That designation could be lost in November, when the U.S. is scheduled to undergo another review.

America’s diminishing herd immunity is due to a growing movement of anti-vax parents—whom Kennedy champions at the federal level—who refuse to provide their children with........

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