NEWS 5
ausdoc . com . au 14 MARCH 2025
NEWS 5
| THE | VACCINE AND PREVENTION SPECIAL
Reaping what RFK Jr helped to sow ? Measles is back in the USA
So far , 164 cases have been confirmed and one child has died .
AAP
Paul Smith THERE is irony of a dark kind in the fact that Robert F Kennedy Jr ’ s appointment as US health secretary comes at a time when his country is on the verge of losing its measles-free status .
Over the past decade , Mr Kennedy ’ s not-for-profit group , known as the Children ’ s Health Defense , has vigorously promoted the debunked claim that MMR vaccines cause autism , which critics say has contributed to the significant decline in vaccination rates .
There have been a series of measles outbreaks in the US in recent years , but the latest is across eight states , where as of 27 February , there were 164 confirmed cases and the death of one child .
Some 95 % were unvaccinated ( including the child who died ) or had an unknown vaccine status .
Last month , Dr Peter Hotez , a paediatrician and director of the Texas Children ’ s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development , said the outbreak in Texas was the worst in 30 years , with fears the true number of cases could be between 200 and 300 .
Historically , the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , which is now under the management of Mr Kennedy , has said the risk of widespread transmission in the US remains low because of the MMR vaccinations he has explicitly linked to autism .
But even last year , it said MMR rates had been below the 95 % population target since 2021 , “ leaving approximately 250,000 kindergarten children susceptible to measles each year ”. Those numbers are confronting . It may interest Mr Kennedy to know that mandatory vaccination in the US began in 1963 at a time when there were 3-4 million cases in a typical year .
The BMJ says this resulted in about 50,000 hospital admissions and 500 deaths .
“ These numbers plunged in subsequent decades , and in 2000 , the country went 12 months without sustained domestic transmission , meeting the criteria to declare the virus eliminated ,” The BMJ said .
So why the irony surrounding Mr Kennedy ’ s new job as US health secretary ? How much of a role has he had in vaccine hesitancy ?
While he resigned from chair of the Children ’ s Defense Fund late last year , prior to his appointment as US health secretary , he was grilled by a Senate committee on his current attitude to the MMR vaccines .
It seems he does now believe there is no robust evidence that they cause
Number of cases
Reported measles cases in the US
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
0
Vaccine licensed
Source : US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
autism . But importantly , he also believes there is no robust evidence that they do not .
During the hearings , Senator Bill Cassidy told him that studies involving 1.25 million children had found no confirmed link between autism and the measles vaccine .
The meta-analysis he was probably referring to was conducted by researchers from the Whiteley-Martin Research Centre at the University of Sydney and was published in Vaccine back in 2014 .
Mr Kennedy responded by saying he was open to looking at it , which seems strange given the significance of an
Second dose recommended
Measles elimination declared
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extremely well-known paper on a topic so close to his heart .
And then he added : “ There are other studies [ on measles and autism ] as well , and I ’ d love to show those to you .”
However , he did make this pledge that , as health secretary , he would do nothing that would make it “ difficult or discourages people from taking [ the measles and polio vaccines ]”.
“ I support the measles vaccine ; I support the polio vaccine .”
Given the damage measles has wreaked on humanity , that is probably a good thing .
But for The Wall Street Journal , Mr
There are other studies as well , and I ’ d love to show those to you .
— Robert F Kennedy Jr
Kennedy ’ s words only went so far .
In a recent editorial , it said : “ At his Senate confirmation hearings , he presented himself as just asking questions , man . That undersells his role in spreading doubt and confusion .”
Both The Wall Street Journal and The BMJ mentioned the notorious visit that Mr Kennedy , when he was chair of the Children ’ s Health Defense , made to Samoa during its measles outbreak in 2019 .
The outbreak was probably the result of an infected passenger arriving in the country on a flight from New Zealand , but that passenger ’ s arrival came at a time when the Samoan Government had suspended its vaccine program and recalled the MMR vaccines because of community fears following the deaths of two vaccinated babies on the island of Savai ’ i .
It later emerged that the babies had died because two nurses had mistakenly used a vial of expired anaesthetic to mix the vaccine .
The outbreak resulted in 5700 cases and 83 deaths , mainly babies , in a population of just 201,000 .
The country ’ s health ministry later said the visit from Mr Kennedy before the crisis erupted in full , a visit that had been organised by a Samoan anti-vaxxer called Edwin Tamasese , had only helped to fuel vaccine hesitancy among the community .
Later that year , Mr Kennedy wrote to the Samoan leader , saying the deaths the country was seeing could PAGE 8