Measles was a solved problem. For most of the 20th century potentially deadly virus infected between three and four million people each year, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of children. In 1971, the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) was approved for use and measles rapidly became just a bad memory.
By the 2000s the confirmed cases of measles each year in the United States had dropped to just 40-70, with a low in 2004 of only 37. Now, thanks to the antivax lies spouted by the current US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr, it’s making one heck of a comeback.
We’re only five months into 2025 and there have already been over a thousand measles cases, with 11 states currently suffering from active outbreaks. Children are now dying needlessly as their parents choose to deprive them of the life-saving vaccine, herd immunity is being lost, and the formerly vanquished virusis rearing its ugly head across the nation.
So, with what’s now a public health crisis with kids’ lives on the line, what does Kennedy have to say for himself?
RFK Jr once again showing us how he feels about the sick and disabled.
— Kelly (@broadwaybabyto) May 11, 2025
“Only sick children should die of measles”.
No. No children should die of measles. It’s a vaccine preventable illness we had all but eliminated.
Also, sick & disabled kids aren’t expendable! pic.twitter.com/pkON41wL5g
Well, there you have it folks, “only very sick children should die of measles”. Lord Farquaad in Shrek comes to mind: “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.” Apparently the lives of “very sick” children are pretty much expendable – I guess from Kennedy’s point of view they’re probably going to die of something sooner or later, it being measles is simply one of those weird things.
For the record, Kennedy continues to spout lies about the MMR vaccine, including that it contains “a lot of aborted fetus debris“. It doesn’t, though this claim has been spread far and wide by Christian groups urging parents to deprive their kids of MMR on religious grounds. But it won’t be the parents whose health is affected by that decision, and many of them who’ve swallowed these lies will one day be staring down at their child’s freshly dug grave and wondering if they made the right call.
Having the Secretary of Health regurgitate this harmful nonsense will only make matters worse, effectively transforming the MMR vaccine uptake into a political issue. After all, does it mean you don’t support the Trump administration if you give your kids MMR? Whether that means Kennedy has blood on his hands is up to interpretation, but either way, your kids are in danger because of his decisions.
