Kennedy’s remark comes as measles cases in the US are at their highest levels seen in decades.
By Chris Walker
This article was originally published by Truthout
On September 17, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), gave a keynote speech to an anti-vaccine group he once led.
Kennedy — a noted anti-vaxxer who has consistently peddled dangerous disinformation to the public — appeared at a conference held by Children’s Health Defense. During his speech, he sought to assure concerned members of the group that he was still allied with them, despite downplaying his controversial views while trying to get confirmed to his post last year.
“Let me be clear. You have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House,” Kennedy said in his speech.
Kennedy asked those gathered before him to be patient with his efforts, ambiguously stating that “we are doing this one day at a time.”
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According to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been 3,471 confirmed cases of measles identified across the U.S. since January 1 of this year. That number already exceeds the number of cases counted in 2025, and is a 12-fold increase over the 285 cases counted in 2024.
The CDC website does not yet include a count of the total number of deaths. However, other state health agencies have recorded at least four deaths from measles in 2026, the highest number seen since 1992.
Experts agree that higher rates of measles are due largely to anti-vax sentiment becoming more mainstream. The virus requires a higher threshold than most to keep it from spreading.







