There It Is: RFK Jr. Suggests Best Strategy For Combatting Measles Is For Everyone To Get It
Well that was fast. We were just talking about RFK Jr.’s recent comments on the measles outbreak in several southern states, mainly Texas, and how those comments were dangerous. The HHS Secretary, while not specifically denouncing the MMR vaccine, suggested that malnourishment was to blame for severe illnesses and death within the outbreak. But he’s not anti-vax! That’s very important. We know this because he said so in his confirmation hearings and even advocated for the MMR vaccine on the HHS website. Never mind all the other things he’s said about vaccines. Or the books he’s written on vaccines. He’s not anti-vax, got it?
Mere days later, asked again about the measles outbreak, RFK Jr. — who, remember, isn’t anti-vax, so don’t say he is! — suggested that it would be better if everyone just got measles instead of getting vaccinated. The logic, if you want to call it that, has one very fatal flaw.
While RFK Jr. recently shifted his stance to concede that vaccinations are actually pretty useful, he has still stopped short of urging skeptics to go and get it. And in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that aired Tuesday night, he appeared to still favor natural immunity through exposure to the virus.
“It used to be, when I were a kid, that everybody got measles. And the measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection,” he said, then taking a swipe at the vaccine. “The vaccine doesn’t do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but for many people it wanes.”
You know what else the vaccine doesn’t do? Kill you, if you’re otherwise healthy, unlike measles. Have people died in the past from the MMR vaccine? Totally! Immune compromised people, mostly children. The ones that the medical experts advocate to not get the vaccine as a result. Those people are supposed to instead rely on the herd immunity created by all the rest of the healthy people that do get vaccinated. But if those people don’t get vaccinated, there is no herd immunity, and those with compromised health conditions are left exposed. And if you think measles is bad in the average person, you don’t want to see the nightmare it is on those that are immune compromised.
There have been no deaths shown to be related to the MMR vaccine in healthy people. There have been rare cases of deaths from vaccine side effects among children who are immune compromised, which is why it is recommended that they don’t get the vaccine.18 That’s why it is so important that everyone who can get vaccinated does so, to protect those who can’t. There are possible side effects from the vaccine, including a sore arm (from the shot), fever, mild rash, temporary pain/stiffness in the joints and a very small risk of febrile seizures or allergic reaction.19 Vaccines undergo a scientifically rigorous research and vetting process before they are approved.
For someone who is definitely not anti-vax (which, reminder, RFK Jr. totally is not, because he said so), these are very anti-vax things to say. The prioritization of these edge issues with a proven vaccine over stopping a fucking measles outbreak is viciously stupid and completely contrary to the public good. It also reveals that the congressional role in confirming cabinet appointments is a sham.
But if you thought RFK Jr., a very un-anti-vax guy, was done criticizing the MMR vaccine in the midst of a measles outbreak, you were wrong. Did you know that mothers having had measles in the past is actually good for children?
RFK Jr. also touched on the issue of maternal immunity, the transfer of disease immunity from a mother to her baby through transplacental transfer pre-birth and breastmilk post-birth.
“It does not appear to provide maternal immunity, it used to be that very young kids were protected by breast milk,” he said of the MMR vaccine. “Women who get vaccinated do not provide that level of immunity that the natural measles infection did. So you’re now seeing measles hit very very young kids and hitting older people within whom the vaccine has waned.”
Children get the benefit from breast milk as RFK Jr. describes… for about six months after birth. That’s what we’re talking about here. It’s, again, quite stupid.
Moving on.
“There are adverse events from the vaccine. It does cause deaths every year. It causes all the illnesses that measles itself cause, like encephalitis and blindness, etc., so people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves,” he said, while adding that the vaccine does “stop the spread of the disease.”
Nonprofit organization Encephalitis International reported that between one and two of 1,000,000 children who had a vaccination will develop encephalitis from it—less than the incidence of all types of encephalitis.
More edge cases, far less a problem then, you know, measles.
The numbers here are incredibly clear and inarguable. The measles vaccine was licensed for public use in 1963 in America. In 1962, the rate of deaths from measles was 0.2/100k among the population. In 2024 there were no deaths from measles. In 1962, there were 257/100k cases of measles among the population. In 2024 it was .08/100k. That’s vaccines at work.
And the leader of American healthcare ought not to have this much trouble saying so.