On Sunday, August 2nd, 2026, US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. urged American parents to vaccinate their children against measles amid a surge in infections not seen in 35 years. The US has recorded 2,371 confirmed measles cases so far this year, surpassing the 2,289 cases reported in 2025. This marks the highest annual number since 1991, with the past two years seeing more measles infections than the rest of the 21st century combined.

Kennedy, known as a longtime vaccine skeptic who has previously amplified misinformation about vaccines including the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, made his call during a contentious interview on CNN's State of the Union. CNN host Dana Bash pressed him to tell families that measles vaccination is safe and life-saving. Kennedy also repeated unfounded claims linking Tylenol use during pregnancy to autism and questioned the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines for children.

Later in the program, Ashish Jha, an advisor to Joe Biden’s White House on COVID response, expressed relief at Kennedy's statement that “every kid in America should be getting the MMR vaccine.”

In a separate exchange on the same show, Kennedy sharply criticized CNN anchor Dana Bash for what he called "COVID-era media malpractice," accusing her of failing to challenge public health authorities and marginalizing dissenters during the pandemic. Kennedy said, "Your job — your job — is a fierce skepticism toward authority, and you weren’t doing that," adding that Bash was "beating up on people who were dissenting."

The interview aired days after Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times during a Senate hearing on the pandemic response and COVID-19 origins. Meanwhile, kindergarten MMR vaccine coverage in the US has declined from 95.2% in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.5% in 2024-2025.

Sources