Kennedy urges measles vaccination as US outbreak reaches 2,371 cases

37 new outbreaks threaten US elimination status; Kennedy denies role in surge

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told American parents on Sunday that they should have their children vaccinated against measles, saying the vaccine prevents the disease in about 97% of cases. “Parents should get their children vaccinated for measles,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union. “A measles vaccine is effective, it stops measles in about 97% of the cases. People should get vaccinated.” He later added that people should also receive the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

The appeal came after host Dana Bash urged Kennedy to use his “bully pulpit” to speak directly to parents as the new school year approached, asking him to say that families should vaccinate “because it is safe and it will help them save their children’s lives.”

Kennedy’s statement followed years in which he has questioned the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Even since becoming the country’s top health official, he has described a measles vaccination as a personal choice and stated that the power of the inoculation is waning.

The US has now recorded 2,371 confirmed measles infections so far this year, surpassing the 2,289 reported across all of 2025 and reaching an annual total not seen since 1991. Taken together, the past two years have produced more measles cases than the rest of the 21st century combined. Thirty-seven new measles outbreaks this year are putting the United States in danger of losing the measles elimination status it has held since 2000.

Asked whether he took any responsibility for the measles surge, Kennedy said “Absolutely not.” He blamed the outbreaks on religious communities that eschew vaccines and on global health conditions.

Later in the interview, Kennedy told Bash she was “saying nonsense,” “repeating like a parrot” and making “assertions you can’t support.” He also said she had become “flustered.” Bash responded, “I’m not flustered at all. I am frustrated because you are the HHS secretary and you are talking about things that lead to vaccine hesitancy in this country.” Kennedy replied that she “probably don’t understand this because you’re not a scientist.” “But you’re not, either,” Bash said.

Kennedy used the exchange to advance further claims. He said respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a major cause of infant mortality, and Lyme disease were caused by the manipulation of germs in laboratories. RSV was first identified in the 1950s, about two decades before “gain-of-function” research began, and decades of scientific evidence point to natural origins for both diseases. Kennedy also repeated his claim of a link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism and questioned the efficacy of vaccines in protecting children against Covid-19.

Later on the same program, Ashish Jha, who advised Joe Biden’s White House on its Covid response, said he was heartened to hear Kennedy say that “every kid in America should be getting the MMR vaccine,” but that much else of what the health secretary said “just isn’t true.” “The administration has not done enough to promote vaccines,” Jha said. “It has not done enough to highlight the harms that come from measles.”