RFK Jr. Faces Criticism For Downplaying Measles Outbreak After First U.S. Death From Disease In A Decade

One unvaccinated child died, and nearly 20 others have been hospitalized after a growing measles outbreak in Texas. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the news in his first public appearance as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday. The child’s death was the first from the disease in a decade in the United States.

More than 130 cases have been reported in Texas and neighboring New Mexico. State officials said additional cases are likely to occur because measles is so contagious. Kennedy, the nation’s top health official and a vaccine critic, downplayed the situation.

“There have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year, there were 16. So it’s not unusual,” Kennedy said on Wednesday. “We have measles outbreaks every year.”

The CDC reported three outbreaks in 2025, of which 92% of cases were outbreak-associated. In 2024, 16 outbreaks were reported, and 69% of cases were outbreak-associated.

He went on to misstate several facts, including stating that two people had died from measles and a claim that most who had been hospitalized were there only for “quarantine.” 

Dr. Lara Johnson, chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s Hospital, contested his statement, saying, “We don’t hospitalize patients for quarantine purposes.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there was one known death, a school-age child. Texas health officials reported that the child was not vaccinated. Texas Health Department data shows that a majority of the reported measles cases are in children.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told USA Today that increased cases of measles coincide with fewer people vaccinating their children. This is due in part to widespread misinformation about the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in a now-retracted and debunked study from 1998 falsely linking vaccines to autism.

Last week, the CDC, which is also under Kennedy, was criticized for pulling a flu vaccine campaign.