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Measles resurgence highlights the toll of RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine policies
After the U.S. surpassed 1,000 reported measles cases nationwide, it's clear the Trump administration is failing to protect our health and well-being. The measles outbreak in Texas is now the largest since 2000, when the country eliminated measles. And it's not yet over, threatening to make measles endemic in America again, where the risk of infection comes from within our country.
Furthermore, two unvaccinated school-aged children in Texas died from measles, the first American children to die from the viral infection since 2003.
Normally, a preventable infection causing avoidable deaths of children would lead to prompt government action. In 1991, I was a medical student with the U.S. Public Health Service in Philadelphia during a large measles outbreak. Over 1,000 people were infected, and nine children died. Government and public health leaders required home visits of infected children, mass immunization, education efforts and even court-mandated vaccinations. The outbreak was stopped.
In Dec. 2014, a measles outbreak began at Disneyland and spread in communities with low vaccination rates. Public health action stopped this large outbreak at 125 cases.
To prevent further outbreaks in California, I authored Senate Bill 277, which eliminated non-medical exemptions for school vaccines. And with further U.S. measles outbreaks in 2019, I authored Senate Bill 276 to crack down on fraudulent medical exemptions. These laws — championed by California parents demanding safe schools for children — raised statewide vaccination rates and shielded our communities.
As Congress waits, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is dismantling decades of public health achievement that will make America sicker. Kennedy reduced vaccine outreach, removed key public health officials, spread disinformation from his official post and suppressed data while elevating conspiracy theorists to top positions.
Kennedy and the Department of Government Efficiency fired a quarter of Health and Human Services staff, gutting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health teams vital to outbreak response. He installed anti-vaccine extremists as advisors, including David Grier, a discredited researcher disciplined for unethical experiments on children with autism, to 'research' if vaccines cause autism, despite decades of research debunking this myth.
The CDC has been muzzled: An analysis showing high rates of measles in low vaccination areas was suppressed, and dozens of Texas vaccination clinics were forced to close. When Kennedy dismantled the CDC's communication team, his former anti-vaccine organization, Children's Health Defense, filled the void with disinformation by publishing a fake CDC-branded vaccine 'safety' website that falsely linked vaccines to autism. The site mimicked official CDC design and branding, deliberately misleading the public.
After news reports exposed the deception and forced the site's removal, no federal action has been taken to investigate or prosecute this unlawful impersonation of a federal agency.
Furthermore, Dr. Peter Marks, the nation's top vaccine regulator who led President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed, refused a demand for false data on brain swelling and death caused by the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine, of which there are no credible cases. Kennedy forced him to resign. In his resignation letter, Marks wrote, 'it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.'
And what of the dead children from measles? Kennedy dismissed the first measles death, saying 'it's not unusual.' He blamed measles on poor nutrition, called vaccines a 'personal choice' that could cause 'adverse events' and claimed Vitamin A and cod liver oil treated measles. Subsequently, many Texas children hospitalized with measles also had Vitamin A toxicity.
At his first Congressional hearing, Kennedy testified, 'I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me.' He then refused to answer whether he would vaccinate a child against polio. As Health and Human Services secretary, he cravenly refuses to save Americans in a public health crisis.
How many children must get sick — and even die — before Congress demands that Kennedy and the Trump administration answer for these preventable deaths and the continued spread of a preventable disease?
This flu season, as flu vaccination declined, 226 children died from influenza — the highest since the 2009-10 pandemic. Other preventable and deadly diseases, including polio and whooping cough, will also return when vaccination is hampered and discouraged.
Our state has made progress in raising vaccination rates, but we are not immune to Kennedy's dangerous vaccine disinformation; California has communities with enough unvaccinated people to fuel a serious outbreak. Measles outbreaks in other states makes it imperative that California strengthen our public health defenses against sparks of infection. And California needs Congress to hold President Donald Trump and Kennedy accountable for not stopping preventable disease in America.
Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician and former California state senator who authored landmark legislation to eliminate non-medical exemptions to school vaccination requirements in response to major measles outbreaks.
