RFK Jr in alleged ‘tirade’ about deadly measles outbreak, blames Biden, tells Pennsylvania governor he wants return of ‘natural measles’

The Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, has said Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy “launched into a tirade” over the ongoing measles crisis. Shapiro is on high alert, as his state is currently grappling with its largest measles outbreak in over three decades.

As of writing, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has confirmed 424 cases of measles across the state, with nearly half of those (197) in Lancaster County. Earlier this week, health officials also confirmed that two people have now died. The two deaths were both unvaccinated people (one an infant), and no cases have been reported in those who received both recommended doses of the MMR vaccine.

This has placed Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy firmly in the spotlight. In 2021, while leading the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, he spoke at a farm event in Lancaster County and minimized concerns, telling people that “the cure for measles is chicken soup and vitamin A” and that when he got measles as a kid he just “had to stay home and watch TV the whole week.”

“Secretary Kennedy has stoked confusion”

In a lengthy post on X, Kennedy said that during a phone call Shapiro “accused me of promoting conspiracy theories” and “faulted me for the decline in Pennsylvania vaccination rates”, going on to describe his claims as “gaslighting.”

Now Shapiro has given his own side of the conversation, saying he’d invited Kennedy to join him to encourage “people to get vaccinated and stop spreading misinformation”. He says Kennedy proceeded to launch “into a tirade – talking about fetal tissue and blaming the previous Administration for this problem. He even told me it would be better if we went back to “natural measles”.”

Shapiro added: “Unfortunately at a time where I needed the top “health expert” in the nation to responsibly work with us to deal with this outbreak, he instead chose to go down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and false claims.”

Kennedy’s claim to prefer “natural measles” refers to his belief that it’s better to gain immunity to measles from actually catching it, rather than through the MMR vaccine, claiming that getting ‘natural measles’ even “boosts your immune system later in life against cancers, atopic diseases, cardiac disease, etc.”

Scientists agree (via NY Times) that measles infection does give you immunity, but disagree that it’s “better” than the immunity from the MMR vaccine because of the potential damage the virus can do. The CDC reports that 1 in 5 people hospitalized for measles are unvaccinated, 1 in 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, 1 in 1000 children with measles develops encephalitis that can result in brain damage, and that “nearly 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die.”

Shapiro underlined that: “According to doctors and medical experts, the MMR vaccine is the best way to protect yourself, your kids, and your community against measles” and said: “The correlation is clear: Secretary Kennedy has stoked confusion amongst parents and others — and the result has been less protection from measles and more cases.”