Kennedy on Sunday shifted his tone on the measles outbreak in Texas, which has sickened nearly 150 people and killed a child.
“All parents should consult with their healthcare providers to understand their options to get the MMR vaccine,” Kennedy wrote in an op-ed published on Fox News Digital.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, called the decision to get vaccinated “a personal one” and noted the role vaccines play mitigating the spread of a disease like measles.
“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,” he wrote.
Kennedy has a long history of disparaging the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. He has falsely and repeatedly linked it to rising autism rates and questioned its safety.
Almost 150 measles cases have been reported in West Texas since January, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
In his op-ed Sunday, Kennedy noted that 79 of the state’s measle cases are in unvaccinated people and 62 are in people with unknown vaccination status. Only five are in vaccinated people.
The child who died was unvaccinated. It was the first U.S. death from measles in a decade.
Kennedy faced criticism after he initially appeared to downplay the outbreak during a Cabinet meeting with President Trump last week, saying it was “not unusual” and falsely claiming many people hospitalized were there “mainly for quarantine.”
The HHS chief has since called the outbreak "serious" and outlined how his agency is responding, including by providing Texas health authorities with MMR vaccines.
“Ending the measles outbreak is a top priority,” Kennedy wrote Sunday.
