Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended his agency’s handling of an ongoing measles outbreak in Pennsylvania this week, saying state officials had “politicized” the response to the growing number of infections.
Kennedy also blamed the covid-19 epidemic lockdown for declining measles vaccination rates, which health experts identify as the main reason for the outbreak. He said the lockdown caused children to miss routine shots.
“They were politicizing the outbreak. They didn’t want our aid,” Kennedy said. “They told us they didn’t want help from the Trump administration.”
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, spoke in response to a reporter’s question about measles deaths — which an aide initially attempted to scuttle — at an event in Virginia on Thursday.
So far, Pennsylvania health officials have reported five confirmed measles-related deaths and are investigating a sixth. The federal government only acknowledges two of those, however.
The measles outbreak in the United States — which has sickened more than 4,400 people so far — is connected to a global outbreak of the highly contagious disease, according to Kennedy.
He cited high numbers of infections in neighboring Canada and Mexico and indicated the United States was doing comparatively well.
“We have done better, and particularly my administration has done better, at controlling the outbreak than any other country in the world,” Kennedy said.
This year, Canada has reported around 1,000 measles cases, according to World Health Organization data. In Mexico, health officials have reported about 6,800 cases since March.
The U.S. recorded around 2,300 cases last year and has nearly doubled that figure in 2026.
Pennsylvania has recorded more than 1,200 cases so far this year, which health experts consider to be an undercount.
All three nations had previously eliminated the virus.
Vaccine expert debunks Kennedy’s claim
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and a physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said Friday that there was no truth to the idea that the covid-19 lockdown was responsible for the measles outbreak in Pennsylvania.
Nearly all of the measles-related deaths in the state have been among adults or children infected by adults — people who would not have received their routine vaccines during the lockdown, he said. Only a third of infections in the state have been among children, according to state data.
Federal officials announced this week that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would send an epidemiologist to Pennsylvania to help the state Health Department contain the outbreak after weeks of feuding between Kennedy and Gov. Josh Shapiro and state Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen.
A so-called “disease detective” — part of the CDC’s Epi-Aid program — is expected to arrive next week.
The officials previously clashed over how to classify “measles-associated” deaths in Pennsylvania. Kennedy accused Shapiro of potentially “fabricating” two deaths in Lancaster County.
Last month, Bogen said Pennsylvania would accept help from the CDC’s Epi-Aid program only if federal officials acknowledged what were then four measles deaths in the state.
As of Friday afternoon, the CDC’s measles dashboard still listed only two deaths nationwide. The agency has not explained the discrepancy. State health officials did not explain the apparent retreat.
“The people of Pennsylvania suffered. Now, they’ve asked us to come in and help them, and I’m confident that we’ll bring that outbreak to a quick close,” Kennedy said Thursday.
Shapiro pushed back on Kennedy’s claims at an event Friday in Chester County, blaming Kennedy for the return of measles in the country.
“I think one of the reasons for that, quite candidly, is that the person who, in theory, is supposed to be the head of public health in this country, RFK Jr. continues to sow doubt, continues to lie about what’s happening here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and continues to play games,” Shapiro said.
In August, Kennedy and Trump held a news conference at which they recommended children receive the MMR in separate doses, which is an option not available in the United States.
They also repeatedly linked vaccines to autism — a widely debunked claim.
Trump even falsely called the vaccine “quite lethal.”
Offit also rebuked Kennedy, saying that a loss of faith in federal health authorities and their failure to recognize the measles-related deaths was the reason for the slow rolloutof the Epi-Aid assistance.
“The problem is that the CDC doesn’t recognize what’s going on here,” he said. “Our state doesn’t trust (Kennedy), nor should they.”
Still, Shapiro credited the state Health Department for its efforts, and said vaccination numbers had spiked in Pennsylvania in reaction to the outbreak.
In a typical month, he said clinicians and public health officials would administer around 25,000 doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Last month, he said that figure was more than 55,000.
“So, I just want to say thank you to the good people of Pennsylvania for doing what I respectfully asked of them: gather the information, go talk to a trusted medical expert, get yourself and your children vaccinated so you could be protected from a disease that was eliminated 25 years ago that shouldn’t have come back, but is, and we’re going to continue to work our way through this,” the governor said.