RFK Jr. posts vaccine misinformation amid Pennsylvania measles deaths

Following Pennsylvania's first measles-associated deaths in 35 years, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Governor Josh Shapiro engaged in a heated public feud over vaccine misinformation. While Kennedy urged vaccinations in public remarks, he promoted an anti-vaccine website on social media and blamed the Biden administration for falling pediatric immunization rates. Meanwhile, newly uncovered documents show Kennedy requested to study Samoa's MMR vaccines in 2019, directly contradicting his Senate confirmation testimony and drawing sharp criticism from lawmakers.

Kennedy Samoa trip testimony

• ▪New documents obtained by The Associated Press and The Guardian show that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote a letter to the Samoan prime minister in January 2019 requesting to study the nation's measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services stated that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 2019 Samoa visit was unrelated to vaccines and called claims that he lied to Congress false and defamatory
• ▪During his Senate confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly denied that his 2019 visit to Samoa had anything to do with vaccines, stating instead that he went to introduce a medical informatics system

Pennsylvania measles deaths

• ▪Pennsylvania health authorities announced that two unvaccinated people died from measles-associated causes, marking the state's first measles deaths in 35 years
• ▪The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating the circumstances surrounding the two measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania

Kennedy-Shapiro public feud

• ▪Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. engaged in a heated phone call on August 25, 2026, regarding the state's measles deaths and vaccine rhetoric
• ▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused Governor Josh Shapiro of 'gaslighting' and blamed declining pediatric vaccine rates on the Biden administration in a post on X on August 25, 2026
• ▪Governor Josh Shapiro accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of launching into a tirade about fetal tissue in vaccines and suggesting a return to 'natural measles' during their phone call

Kennedy vaccine misinformation

• ▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a link on X to The Highwire, a website run by anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree that contains vaccine misinformation, on August 25, 2026
• ▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used his personal social media account to amplify disputed claims that the Food and Drug Administration knew Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine spread particles to the ovaries

Congressional accountability questions

• ▪Senate health leader Bill Cassidy stated that his trust in Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was broken after Kennedy ousted all 17 members of a federal vaccine advisory committee despite pledging not to change it
• ▪Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Edward Markey stated that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied or misled the Senate regarding the purpose of his 2019 Samoa trip

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