Kennedy Jr backtracks and says US measles outbreak is now a ‘top priority’ for health department

Two days after initially downplaying the outbreak as “not unusual,” the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, on Friday said he recognizes the serious impact of the ongoing measles epidemic in Texas – in which a child died recently – and said the government is providing resources, including protective vaccines.

“Ending the measles outbreak is a top priority for me and my extraordinary team,” Kennedy – an avowed anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who for years has sown doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines – said in a post on X.

Kennedy said his federal Department of Health and Human Services would send Texas 2,000 doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine – typically meant to be given to children in a series of two shots at 12 to 15 months old as well as between the ages of four and six years old – through its immunization program.

Earlier, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) upheld the role of vaccines in offering protection against measles after an unvaccinated child died from an infection this week. The death, reported on Wednesday, was the first US fatality from the highly contagious disease in a decade. Government data shows a growing outbreak with more than 140 cases reported in Texas since late January.

The child’s death and the hospitalization of nearly 20 other patients in Texas have put Kennedy’s vaccine views to the test.

Kennedy founded the Children’s Health Defense anti-vaccine group. However, he has claimed he is not “anti-vaccine” and has said he would not prevent Americans from getting vaccinated.

A total of 164 measles cases were reported as of 27 February across Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, Rhode Island and Texas, information from the CDC showed. About 95% of those infected were unvaccinated people, including children whose parents did not follow CDC recommendations to get them immunized with safe, effective vaccines providing protection against measles as well as other easily preventable diseases. Another 3% were from people who received only one of the two required shots for immunity, CDC data showed on Friday.

These cases were reported in nine jurisdictions, including Kentucky, marking a near 80% jump from 93 cases reported a week ago.

Also on Friday, Kennedy’s health and human services department announced plans to eliminate public participation in many of the agency’s policy decisions – a proposal that explicitly flouts a promise of “radical transparency” that he previously made to Congress while lawmakers considered confirming his appointment to the cabinet of Donald Trump’s second presidential administration.

The health and human services department has allowed such public comment on a range of agency actions for decades. It would mark a noted shift in the rulemaking process at the agency, which directs $3tn in healthcare spending and oversees the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and programs such as Medicare and Medicaid – which insure more than 140 million people.

Reuters contributed reporting