Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is currently experiencing increased criticism on social media after stating on Fox News that it might be more beneficial for individuals to contract measles in order to naturally develop immunities.
Rather than promoting the importance of receiving the vaccine to prevent the fatal disease, the Health and Human Service Secretary appointed by President Donald Trump implied that contracting measles would be preferable.
There is increased scrutiny on RFK Jr.’s vaccine skepticism amid a measles outbreak in Texas.
He faced online backlash for sharing a picture of himself hiking above the Coachella Valley instead of dedicating his time to addressing the escalating spread of the disease.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that aired Tuesday night, the HHS head appeared to still favor natural immunity through exposure to the virus.
‘It used to be, when I were a kid, that everybody got measles,’ He told Hannity during an interview at a Steak ‘n Shake. ‘And the measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection.’
‘The vaccine doesn’t do that,’ he said in repeating his anti-vaxxer stances. ‘The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but for many people it wanes.’
Critics of Trump, RFK Jr. and the anti-vaccine movement were immediately not OK with how the HHS Secretary talked about the outbreak.
Social media users called his latest comments and claims about natural measles immunities ‘bonkers’ and ‘nonsense.’
‘We had 16 measles outbreaks last year,’ he noted to Hannity. ‘Some years we have hundreds of measles outbreaks.’
‘Part of that is that there are people who don’t vaccinate, but also the vaccine itself wanes,’ he added in some of his skepticism. ‘The vaccine wanes about 4.5% per year, so that means older people are essentially unvaccinated.’
Kennedy’s main argument, however, is that the ‘government shouldn’t force’ people to get the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine – like they were pressured to get the COVID-19 inoculation right after it was developed in the midst of the pandemic.
In Texas, the uptick in measles cases comes amid a decrease in vaccination rates, partly fueled by COVID skepticism.
‘There are adverse events from the vaccine. It does cause deaths every year,’ RFK Jr. noted. ‘It causes all the illnesses that measles itself cause, like encephalitis and blindness, etc., so people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves,’ he said in the Fox News interview.
Measles is the most infectious disease in the world, with one patient capable of infecting nine out of 10 unvaccinated people they come into contact with. The MMR jab slashes the risk of developing the disease by 97 percent with two doses – and 93 percent with just one dose.
There have been more than 250 people infected with measles in Texas with 29 hospitalizations and two deaths so far.
Kennedy has recently shifted his stance to concede vaccinations are useful, he has still stopped short of urging skeptics to go and get it.
RFK Jr. touched on the issue of maternal immunity and said mothers who got the measles could transfer those immunities to their children through transplacental transfer while pregnant or transfer breast milk after giving birth.
‘[The MMR vaccine] does not appear to provide maternal immunity, it used to be that very young kids were protected by breast milk,’ the Cabinet Secretary said.
‘Women who get vaccinated do not provide that level of immunity that the natural measles infection did,’ he added. ‘So you’re now seeing measles hit very very young kids and hitting older people within whom the vaccine has waned.’
Three major U.S. airports have already raised the alarm over measles this year.
Alerts were issued at Los Angeles International Airport LAX, New York’s JFK International Airport and Washington DC’s Dulles International Airport.
California, New York and Maryland have reported cases on top of the outbreak in the Lone Star State.
The infection is spread via respiratory droplets expelled via coughs and sneezes that can hang in the air for up to two hours.
Infected patients first suffer from a fever, cough, runny nose and sore throat before developing the characteristic red rash that starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body, including the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet.
