A Measles Outbreak? A Dead Kid? Kennedy Shrugs It Off

Kennedy downplayed a measles outbreak that killed a child, hospitalized 18 and sickened 133, saying there were 16 outbreaks in 2024. But the average number of cases in those outbreaks was just 12.

CDC photo

"We are following the measles epidemic every day,” our new Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said at the recent White House Cabinet meeting. He then went on to downplay an outbreak that caused the death of a school-aged child, marking the first U.S. measles fatality since 2015.

“Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year,” he added, his demeanor suggesting it’s nothing to even be bothered with. “In this country last year there were 16. So, it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year."

Indeed, we do. But the 16 “outbreaks” he’s referring to are defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as involving just three or more related cases, and the average outbreak size for those 16 outbreaks in 2024 was just 12 cases, according to numbers provided on the CDC website. The current US outbreak infected 133 individuals in two states, hospitalized 18 people and killed an unvaccinated child. And it began with unvaccinated Americans.

Hey, no big deal, right? Just ask RFK Jr.

Kennedy’s lack of empathy and reliance on sly deception in describing the outbreak reflects the Trump team’s culture of ruthless self-interest and calculated disregard for anyone not wealthy or in a position of power. They’re cutting USAID projects that help the desperate, dismantling safeguards against corporate greed, bastardizing our justice system with political intent, cutting services without thought of consequences to real people, and treating the government’s duty to the poor and disabled with open contempt.

Meanwhile, the nation’s millionaires and billionaires are well taken care of.

Measles isn’t something to fool around with. It’s highly contagious, lingering in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area. And it can cause severe complications, including pneumonia, brain inflammation, blindness, long-term immune damage and something called “Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis,” a brain disorder that that can develop years after infection.

Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, around 48,000 people were hospitalized yearly with measles, 1,000 people a year suffered dangerous brain swelling and 400 to 500 people died.

You can be excused if you didn’t know all this because measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in late 2000 by the CDC. This meant that there was no continuous transmission of the disease for over 12 months due to high vaccination rates and strong public health efforts.

U.S. cases since then have mostly been originated from outside the country and been brought here by infected individuals. Things are changing, though, with fears about vaccines being stoked by people like Kennedy, a well-known anti-vaccine zealot who, in the past, has been criticized for spreading misinformation about vaccine safety.

The largest measles eruption in current history came in 2019, when the U.S. experienced its largest measles outbreak in decades, with over 1,200 cases reported, mostly in unvaccinated communities. In NY, most cases were linked to Orthodox Jewish communities, where misinformation about the MMR vaccine — pushed by groups that included the Kennedy-led Children’s Health Defense — caused the abandonment of vaccination programs.

That outbreak was eventually traced back to travelers from Israel and other countries. It ended when New York City and Rockland County implemented mandatory vaccinations, barred unvaccinated children from schools, and state and local health officials ramped up awareness campaigns to combat misinformation.

Anti-Vax Zealots

Kennedy headed the Children’s Health Defense from 2016 until 2023. During his tenure, it became one of the most influential anti-vaccine organizations in the U.S., spreading misinformation about vaccines, public health policies, and pharmaceutical companies.

The group gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, actively opposing vaccine mandates and public health measures that MAGA Republicans targeted as political weaponry. And now Kennedy’s the guy Trump’s put in charge of health care for all of America.

So what’s happened since he’s come on, beyond his calm dismissal of a disease outbreak that killed one child, led to the hospitalization of 18 mostly kids, and sickened 133 people overall, and counting?

A meeting of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), originally set for Feb. 26 was postponed indefinitely, as was a meeting of the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Panel, set for March 13 to discuss the composition of the upcoming flu vaccine.

What this guy about, anyway? Let’s review Kennedy’s past as we think about his casual dismissal of a disease outbreak medical professionals are now battling.

He’s not a doctor, nor a scientist and he has no training in the health field. But he does know a thing or two about drugs. RFK Jr. was a heroin addict for 14 years, ending only after he pled guilty to a felony charge of heroin possession and entered a treatment center. If that doesn’t scramble your brains, I don’t know what will.

According to reporting by Joe Hagan in the news magazine Vanity Fair, some in Kennedy’s own family describes him as someone who regularly blends fact and fiction in outlining his views, and has a powerful ability to deny the collateral damage of his own actions in his search for public adulation as a Kennedy son.

Sadly, in this case, the Kennedy mystique has turned into the Kennedy mistake. And like with Trump, it ain’t easy keeping up with the conspiracy theories Kennedy regularly spits out.

Fringe Health Theories

Basically, RFK Jr. is a man holding tightly to fringe health theories that have been largely disproved as a way to enhance his own self image. This includes his personal favorite, that vaccines cause autism in kids.

The lone study suggesting this involved just 12 children who received MMR vaccinations, and it was retracted by the journal that initially ran it after it was proven to involve cherry-picked data that was improperly manipulated. Since then, of course, dozens and dozens of scientific studies done properly by independent scientists have proven no link exists.

Trump has pointed to the rising numbers of children with autism as possible support for Kennedy’s warped views on vaccines, but autism is diagnosed differently now than in the past with an “autism spectrum” bringing in a much larger group of those with the disorder, ranging from mild to extreme. And it’s cultural prominence has boosted the number of parents seeking help.

Meanwhile, vaccine fears have caused some dangerous situations.

In Samoa in June 2019, two nurses mistakenly mixed the MMR vaccine with a muscle relaxant, killing two children. Kennedy and other anti-vaxxers in the group he once led took advantage of that unfortunate accident by speculating that the MMR vaccine itself was unsafe, causing top politicians there to end its use.

The real world result: A deadly measles outbreak that infected around 5,700 citizens and claimed the lives of 83, most of whom were children. Imagine if the US goes all out in opposing vaccines for kids in schools, and the almost half of Americans who support Trump decides not to have their kids vaccinated.

Samoa is a tiny world; How many infected might we see here?

In a 2012 court deposition, made during a divorce from his second wife, Kennedy revealed that a worm had eaten a portion of his brain before dying inside there, one of multiple health conditions he said may have caused the "cognitive problems" he was experiencing, according to a New York Times report on the case.

Right. I could go on and on about the wild health theories Kennedy has pursued, but you get the point.

His obvious dismissal of a measles outbreak affecting 133 people and counting, and killing a child — the first death from this disease in a decade — is just one more step along a trail he’s been walking for years, making him a perfect choice for Trump’s team. What do you think?