Measles outbreak could be 'politically perilous' for Trump and RFK Jr.
Trump's choice of RFK Jr. to be HHS secretary poses a risk to GOP lawmakers in the midterm elections if measles, bird flu, ebola or another disease rips through the country.
WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of well-established vaccines, said Wednesday that his department is tracking an outbreak of measles that has infected more than 100 people and killed a child in Texas. But he played down the consequence of the resurgence — 25 years after the disease was declared to be eliminated in the U.S.
"We're following the measles epidemic every day," Kennedy said during President Donald Trump's first Cabinet meeting since being sworn in Jan. 20. “Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. ... So it’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.”
But the death of an unvaccinated school-age child in West Texas, confirmed by a state health official this week, is the first fatality in the U.S. since 2015.
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Kennedy has been scarce at HHS headquarters, has not visited a number of HHS agencies and has not sent all-staff emails to the department's workforce, according to one department official. Notably, this person said, Kennedy has not done anything to address the measles outbreak.
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