PROVIDENCE, R.I. — When the nation's top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., endorsed the measles vaccine this month, his comments made waves because he spent that vaccines are unsafe.
Many of his anti-vaccine allies stood by Kennedy, trying to tamp down concerns from those who accused him of abandoning their movement.
Doctors, public health experts and propaganda researchers say the health and human services secretary is threading the needle between his agency's role as a neutral arbiter of science and the rhetoric of anti-vaccine activists. They say his word choices reflect that he is working from the anti-vaccine playbook he used for much of his career.
The Associated Press examined his comments about the measles outbreak that has infected more than 700 people and killed three, how his allies interpreted them and the facts according to scientists.
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A Kennedy spokesperson said the health secretary is not anti-vaccine and "responded to the measles outbreak with clear guidance that vaccines are the most effective way to prevent measles." He did not respond to questions about how the anti-vaccine movement interpretedÌýKennedy's comments.
Sowing doubt
Kennedy said:Ìý"The federal government's position, my position, is people should get the measles vaccine, but the government should not be mandating those," Kennedy told CBS after an unvaccinated child in Texas died of measles. He about the measles vaccine, saying testing was inadequate. He also raised safety concerns about the vaccine for pertussis.
Allies heard:ÌýCharlene Bollinger, who runs a and other products, highlighted in a Substack post how Kennedy raised safety concerns. "Trust him. Trust me," she wrote. "He's not walked through fire for years to abandon us now." She added, "Read what he said carefully … pay attention to the things he didn't say. There are clues."
In a social media post, the group American Values, set up to support Kennedy's presidential run, amplified his comments questioning vaccine safety.
Scientists say:ÌýThe measles vaccine is , and protecting people from outbreaks requires nearly everyone to be vaccinated. Public schools in the U.S. generally require children to be vaccinated against measles to attend, though a growing number of parents avoid those mandates, in some cases by getting exemptions. That fueled low vaccination rates in communities around the U.S., leaving them vulnerable. Just got their required shots in 2023, below the 95% threshold for preventing outbreaks.
If Kennedy truly changed his mind about vaccines, he would have explained what he got wrong in the past, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He didn't do that and instead immediately questioned how vaccines are safety tested.
'Already sick'
Kennedy said:ÌýHealth authorities said the two children who died were both unvaccinated, they died as a result of measles and . Still, Kennedy in the outbreak were "already sick." He said the second child who died had various other health problems and asserted ", but it was a bacteriological infection."
"Her death was caused by pneumonia," Kennedy told Fox ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. "So, you know, her parents said that she was over measles two weeks before."
Kennedy's spokesperson did not respond to questions asking where he got his information about the child's medical history and to clarify why what he said conflicted with statements from health officials.
Allies heard:ÌýThe anti-vaccine group Kennedy led for years, Children's Health Defense, promoted his comments, posting a clip online and saying it shows Kennedy "confirms the so-called 'measles deaths' are NOT actually measles deaths." American Values wrote that his comments constituted a "bombshell" because the child "did not pass away from measles, despite what the media claimed."
Scientists say:ÌýÌýand is the most common cause of death from measles in young children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a subsidiary of HHS.
Renee DiResta, a professor at Georgetown University who researches propaganda and studied the anti-vaccine movement, said Kennedy and Children's Health Defense told people for yearsÌýthat measles is a routine and harmless childhood illness to justify the argument that a safe vaccine is more risky than the disease.
A similar narrative emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people who wanted to minimize its seriousness suggested people were dying "with COVID" rather than from COVID, said Richard Carpiano, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Riverside, who followed Kennedy's anti-vaccine work.
Personal choice
Kennedy said:ÌýKennedy attended the funeral of the 8-year-old girl who died, then posted online about meeting with her family and the family of a 6-year-old girl who died in February. In one post, he wrote, "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine."
Allies heard:ÌýKennedy's positive comments about the measles vaccine prompted some criticism from Children's Health Defense. CEO Mary Holland said Kennedy no longer speaks for the group, and said he put out what she called "very partial information." She claimed a vaccination for measles caused her son's autism. Still, she said, “People should not get lost in Bobby Kennedy saying that the vaccine can prevent measles,†adding, “Bobby went to stand with the unvaccinated. And he has said it’s a personal choice.â€
Scientists say:ÌýScientists . Vaccines saved an estimated 154 million lives in the past 50 years, according to the World Health Organization, which says immunization was the greatest contribution to ensuring babies live until their first birthday.
Carpiano said Kennedy helped the anti-vaccine movement pivot to the idea that it is about personal rights, personal freedoms and medical freedom. While there is a libertarian bent to it, that framing leaves out an important piece.
“It’s the freedom to do whatever you want. A libertarian would say, ‘provided it doesn’t hurt other people,’†he said. But when it comes to Kennedy and the anti-vaccine movement, the part about not hurting other people gets left out, Carpiano said. “And so basically becomes a tyranny of the minority,†Carpiano said. “It’s something that he helps to keep promoting and legitimating.â€
