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Kennedy returns to anti-vaccine gathering and backs Trump health policy shift
The US health secretary addressed Children’s Health Defense, the group he once led for years. The appearance drew renewed criticism as the country faces its worst measles year since 1991.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday delivered the keynote speech at a conference hosted by Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group he chaired for years before launching his 2023 presidential bid, NBC 6 South Florida reported.
Kennedy used the event to signal support from Donald Trump’s administration and told attendees that the White House is aligned with their priorities. He also defended administration efforts to scale back vaccine recommendations and remake a key vaccine advisory board, though those steps have since been blocked by a judge.
According to NBC 6 South Florida, Kennedy also praised a Trump executive order issued last month that calls for spacing out the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, despite opposition from medical groups. The outlet said the order, along with Kennedy’s speech, reflects a shift by both the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services after an earlier focus this year on a less contentious healthy-food agenda ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Kennedy told the audience that vaccine access has not been removed, but argued that his department has begun raising questions that, in his view, millions of American parents have been asking for years. His remarks again elevated long-standing challenges to vaccine safety claims that, NBC 6 South Florida noted, now have a far more prominent platform under Trump.
The appearance came as the United States faces its worst measles year since 1991. NBC 6 South Florida reported that seven measles-associated deaths have been recorded over the last two years, exceeding the combined total reported over the previous three decades. In Pennsylvania, officials have reported four measles-related deaths this year and said none of those people had been vaccinated.
Against that backdrop, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro criticized Kennedy’s appearance on X and argued that the HHS secretary should have urged people to get vaccinated against measles instead of promoting a message that, in his view, fuels fear and mistrust.
NBC 6 South Florida also reported that Andrew Wakefield, whose retracted study linked the MMR vaccine to autism, spoke after Kennedy. That paper was discredited, and the scientific consensus based on decades of research has found no connection between vaccines and autism.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
