The Consequences Of An RFK Jr. HHS Appointment Are Smacking Our Children In The Face
The reemergence of measles, a disease once declared officially eradicated in the United States, didn’t start with the second Trump presidential term. It didn’t even begin with Trump’s first term. Instead, it started through an unholy alliance between far-right, often religious groups that have pitched the vaccines as either unnecessary or dangerous combined with a far-left group that is often celebrity-driven pushing the same thing. But it’s also true that this unlikely alliance is reflected in the latest iteration of the Trump administration. Trump, as should be obvious, is aligned with the GOP. RFK Jr. has traditionally been a liberal. Those two have combined, through RFK Jr.’s obscene appointment to the Department of Health and Human Services, to propel measles back to being a danger unlike we’ve seen in decades.
The most recent measles outbreak began in the south, in Texas by all accounts. As RFK Jr. has noted, there have been brief outbreaks of measles that have occurred pretty much every year. Unnoted by the Secretary, however, is that these outbreaks traditionally occur in under-vaccinated geographical areas and that most of the infections and harm occur among the unvaccinated. Instead of consistently pushing for higher vaccination rates to combat this outbreak, RFK Jr. has instead pivoted to blaming nutrition for adverse effects from measles, while also suggesting that it would be better for everyone to just go ahead and get measles so that they have natural immunity. This, of course, follows years of vaccine skepticism from RFK Jr. that was picked up by people from both sides of the political aisle.
The consequences for this history and RFK Jr.’s recent appointment are smacking us in the face. Or, rather, they’re mostly smacking our children in the face. There are currently measles cases that occurred this year in a double-digit number of states, with most of the cases occurring in Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas. According to the CDC’s own data, the infections, hospitalizations, and 1 of 2 of the deaths from measles in 2025 have largely occurred among children and among the unvaccinated.
That data is not ambiguous. It isn’t difficult to parse. And the consequences are only growing. Cases are doubling in Kansas every week at this point. One child has already died. And we haven’t even really gotten into what will be eventual instances in which people, especially children, who can’t be vaccinated due to other health issues, will eventually fall victim to the callous and self-centered attitudes of the ignorant. And they will be cheered on by an HHS Secretary more invested in conspiracy theories and not admitting error than the health of, you know, children.
The measles is spreading. And it’s spreading, in part, directly because of the words that have come out of RFK Jr.’s mouth.
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that as measles continues to spread, parents have continued to eschew vaccines and instead embraced “alternative” treatments, including vitamin A, which has been touted by anti-vaccine advocate and current US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Vitamin A accumulates in the body and can be toxic with large doses or extended use. Texas doctors told the Times that they’ve now treated a handful of unvaccinated children who had been given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage.
So we’ve now entered the realm in which we have compounding health issues, both from measles itself, as well as the misapplication of so-called alternative health methods. And all of it is completely unnecessary. People, children, don’t have to get sick. There doesn’t need to be the first couple of deaths from measles, so far, in a decade.
No, this is a result of a deliberate choice made by a leader more intersted in trolling the libs than governing in a responsible way. Why the country appears to be so sanguine about the federal government sacrificing our children for ego is simply beyond me.