“You Have a Strong and Steadfast Friend,” RFK Jr. Tells Anti-Vaxxers

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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Despite measles case numbers reaching record highs this year compared to the past several decades, Kennedy only addressed the situation once in his speech, asking his audience to “care about every child who dies from measles,” adding that “they get headlines.” 

In the same breath, he called for the audience to “care about children who are dying or suffering or being injured by vaccine injuries,” a highly exaggerated anti-vax talking point. 

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.

“The best way to prevent contracting measles is through measles vaccination,” an explainer from Johns Hopkins University says. “Having a high percentage of people fully vaccinated against measles is the best way to prevent outbreaks, and is also the best way to protect people who cannot get measles vaccines, such as babies or people with cancer.”

Kennedy’s speech also comes as COVID-19 vaccinations for children have been harder to come by. Just a few weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved an updated version of that vaccine. However, the federal government has not yet made those shots available through the Vaccines for Children program. About half of all U.S. children are affected by the delays. 

Kennedy’s speech was preceded by a speech by Mark Gorton, president of the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Institute, a think tank that spreads health misinformation and that largely influences Trump administration policy. In addition to wrongly purporting that vaccines are linked to autism (a claim that has been debunked many times over the past several decades), Gorton falsely characterized the highly successful polio vaccine from the mid-20th century as being harmful.

“The success of the polio vaccine was a massive medical fraud,” Gorton said, adding that it was a “public health disaster.”

In truth, health experts agree that the polio vaccine was responsible for saving the lives of millions of people, particularly children, since the time it was first administered. 

This article was originally published by Truthout and is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Please maintain all links and credits in accordance with our republishing guidelines.