Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared in a recent interview that people should be getting vaccinated against measles, which has killed two children and infected more than 500 people in West Texas.
Kennedy shared his thoughts while speaking with CBS News on Tuesday during his Make America Healthy Again tour in Arizona. This was the first time he had publicly supported getting the vaccine in his new role.
“We encourage people to get the measles vaccine,” Kennedy said.
He was asked about the federal government’s official position on the vaccine, to which he said, “The federal government’s position, my position, is that people should get the measles vaccine.”
However, he added that the “government should not be mandating those.”
In a recent opinion piece published by Fox News last month, Kennedy discussed his concern about the outbreak, in which he acknowledged the vaccine’s efficacy.
“Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons,” Kennedy wrote.
He also recently took to social media to discuss the vaccine, calling it the “most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.”
However, in both cases, he stopped short of recommending people actually get the vaccine.
Since January, more than 600 people have contracted measles, the most infections in a single year since a 2019 outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared.
Measles, the highly contagious disease that can cause a severe infection in the lungs and brain, potentially resulting in cognitive issues, deafness, or death, is vaccinated against through the MMR vaccine, the CDC shared. Health officials and doctors have deemed the shot extremely safe and effective for years.
While most people recover from their symptoms, about 1 in 5 unvaccinated people will be hospitalized, and about 3 out of every 1,000 children who become infected will die. Both of the children who died in the ongoing outbreak were unvaccinated.
As for Kennedy, he said that he is not anti-vaccine and that his views have been mischaracterized.
“I always said during my campaign and every part, every public statement I’ve made, ‘I’m not gonna take people’s vaccines away from them,’” Kennedy told CBS News. “What I’m gonna do is make sure that we have good science so that people can make an informed choice.”