section_path: Secretary of Health and Human Services (2025–present)/Tenure/2025 Southwest United States measles outbreak
section_name: 2025 Southwest United States measles outbreak
paragraph_text: 2025 Southwest United States measles outbreak
  
  Kennedy's tenure began during a measles outbreak in the southwestern U.S., including the first measles death in a decade. The Texas Department of State Health Services reported 146 cases, 20 hospitalizations, and one death in late February. In his first public comments, on February 26, Kennedy said there had been two deaths and that "there have been four measles outbreaks this year. In this country last year there were 16. So it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year." Such outbreaks of the disease had been declared domestically eliminated. He also falsely claimed that the people hospitalized were done so "mainly for quarantine", a claim healthcare professionals refuted. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden wrote: "Nothing about kids dying from measles is normal. Anti-vaxxers like RFK Jr. and the Republicans who enable them are responsible for every single one of these deaths."
  
  Days later, Kennedy called the outbreak a "top priority" for the department. His messaging regarding the outbreak cited fringe theories blaming poor diet and health. He promoted cod liver oil, steroid inhalation, an antibiotic, vitamin A, and other questionable treatments that he called "almost miraculous". While recommending vaccination against measles, he also overstated the vaccine's possible harms and suggested that acquiring immunity from catching the disease would be better. The CDC says that the MMR vaccine is "much safer than getting measles, mumps, or rubella". The antibiotic is not effective against a viral disease such as measles. Vitamin A is part of measles treatment primarily in areas where children may be deficient in the vitamin.
  
  On February 28, HHS top spokesperson Thomas Corry abruptly resigned, two weeks after being sworn in as the assistant secretary of public affairs. He reportedly clashed with Kennedy over his management of the department during the measles outbreak.
  
  On March 2, Kennedy was criticized for writing an op-ed for Fox News that called vaccines a "personal choice" and recommended vitamins and good nutrition to combat measles. But he also wrote in the piece: "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."
  
  After Kennedy took to the media to falsely claim that vitamin A is both a prophylactic and treatment for measles, doctors in Texas began to see children infected with measles also having symptoms of vitamin A toxicity.
  
  On March 28, Kennedy told Peter Marks, the head of FDA's vaccine program, that he should resign or be fired. Marks wrote a resignation letter that lamented Kennedy's attempts to erode trust in vaccines: "It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies." Days earlier, the CDC head of communications said after his own resignation, "Kennedy and his team are working to bend science to fit their own narratives, rather than allowing facts to guide policy."
  
  In April, Kennedy praised Texas doctor Ben Edwards as one of two "extraordinary healers" using unverified treatments for measles; the week before, Edwards was aware that he was infected with measles when he met children and parents at his clinic without wearing a mask.
  
  Kennedy's tenure began during a measles outbreak in the southwestern U.S., including the first measles death in a decade. The Texas Department of State Health Services reported 146 cases, 20 hospitalizations, and one death in late February. In his first public comments, on February 26, Kennedy said there had been two deaths and that "there have been four measles outbreaks this year. In this country last year there were 16. So it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year." Such outbreaks of the disease had been declared domestically eliminated. He also falsely claimed that the people hospitalized were done so "mainly for quarantine", a claim healthcare professionals refuted. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden wrote: "Nothing about kids dying from measles is normal. Anti-vaxxers like RFK Jr. and the Republicans who enable them are responsible for every single one of these deaths."
  
  Days later, Kennedy called the outbreak a "top priority" for the department. His messaging regarding the outbreak cited fringe theories blaming poor diet and health. He promoted cod liver oil, steroid inhalation, an antibiotic, vitamin A, and other questionable treatments that he called "almost miraculous". While recommending vaccination against measles, he also overstated the vaccine's possible harms and suggested that acquiring immunity from catching the disease would be better. The CDC says that the MMR vaccine is "much safer than getting measles, mumps, or rubella". The antibiotic is not effective against a viral disease such as measles. Vitamin A is part of measles treatment primarily in areas where children may be deficient in the vitamin.
  
  On February 28, HHS top spokesperson Thomas Corry abruptly resigned, two weeks after being sworn in as the assistant secretary of public affairs. He reportedly clashed with Kennedy over his management of the department during the measles outbreak.
  
  On March 2, Kennedy was criticized for writing an op-ed for Fox News that called vaccines a "personal choice" and recommended vitamins and good nutrition to combat measles. But he also wrote in the piece: "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."
  
  After Kennedy took to the media to falsely claim that vitamin A is both a prophylactic and treatment for measles, doctors in Texas began to see children infected with measles also having symptoms of vitamin A toxicity.
  
  On March 28, Kennedy told Peter Marks, the head of FDA's vaccine program, that he should resign or be fired. Marks wrote a resignation letter that lamented Kennedy's attempts to erode trust in vaccines: "It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies." Days earlier, the CDC head of communications said after his own resignation, "Kennedy and his team are working to bend science to fit their own narratives, rather than allowing facts to guide policy."
  
  In April, Kennedy praised Texas doctor Ben Edwards as one of two "extraordinary healers" using unverified treatments for measles; the week before, Edwards was aware that he was infected with measles when he met children and parents at his clinic without wearing a mask.