The new Secretary in the United States of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pleaded for the measles vaccine, mumps and rubella (MMR) in the middle of the in progress measles epidemic in the country.
“The most effective way to prevent the propagation of measles is the ROR vaccine,” Kennedy said in a Post X on Sunday, in which he said he had visited the family of the second child in Texas who died after having contracted the very contagious disease.
Kennedy added to the position that he had deployed a team to provide pharmacies and clinics to Texas with MMR vaccines and other drugs in March to support the state during the epidemic.
The Texas Department of Health said on Sunday that the deceased child of measles was not vaccinated against the disease. The ministry added that 481 cases of measles – mainly children – have been reported in Texas since the end of January.
Kennedy was a vocal critic of vaccines. When he launched his presidential candidacy in 2024, he has sworn to reduce funding For federal health agencies that regulate infant vaccines.
But during his January confirmation hearings to become a health secretary, Kennedy was burned on his opinions on the vaccines by Senator Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana republican who heads the Senate of Health Committee and spent decades to practice medicine.
Cassidy finally voted in favor of Kennedy after receiving insurance from Kennedy and the Trump administration that they would work in existing vaccine systems and do not remove the government’s vaccination directives.
And in an opinion article in Fox News in March, Kennedy said that the Ror vaccine was “crucial to avoid a potentially fatal disease”.
However, he ceased to mandate the vaccine, writing in opinion: “The decision to vaccinate is personal.”
He then recommended vitamin A as a possible measles treatment, adding that a balanced diet and good nutrition “remain a better defense against most chronic and infectious diseases”.
Representatives of the Ministry of Health and Social Services did not respond to a request for comments to Business Insider.