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RFK Jr. Clashes With Lawmakers Over Measles, COVID and Chronic Disease

By Jill Erzen

chronic diseases and rfk jr at hearing

Vaccines and measles outbreaks dominated a long day on Capitol Hill as U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced back-to-back hearings on Wednesday.

The afternoon session before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee followed a tense morning appearance before the Senate Finance Committee.

Across both hearings — Kennedy’s sixth and seventh in just over a week — lawmakers covered everything from drug prices to rural healthcare to environmental risks.

But the sharpest exchanges kept circling back to measles.

“People have been talking about measles all day long,” Kennedy said. While outbreaks matter, he said, “We also can’t just talk about that in exclusion to the thing that is killing our country.”

Kennedy pointed to chronic disease, which accounts for 90% of the nation’s $4.9 trillion in annual healthcare costs. “We need to do something to protect our children,” he said.

The U.S. has the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world, and “during COVID, we had the highest death rate of any country on Earth,” Kennedy said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the two are connected.

“When you ask CDC, ‘Why did all these people die from COVID?’ … They say it’s because of our chronic disease epidemic,” he said. “The average American who died had 3.8 chronic diseases.”

Kennedy added:

“This was not an infectious disease that was killing healthy people. It was killing sick people. So the connection between chronic disease and infectious disease is there for everybody to see. But everybody ignores it. Every Democrat in this committee, all they wanted to do was talk about measles.”

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‘People stopped trusting the American government’

Lawmakers warned that the U.S. is facing its worst measles outbreak in decades, with several senators tying that to falling vaccination rates.

“Children are dying as a result,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said. He pointed to what he sees as parents’ growing confusion regarding vaccines.

Kennedy rejected the premise that his policies are driving a decline in the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.

“We promote the MMR. We advise every child to get the MMR,” he said. He added that the vaccine “prevents measles in 97% of people who take it.”

Kennedy countered that lower vaccination rates are a result of eroding trust in federal health officials after COVID-19-era policies. “The vaccination levels dropped during COVID because people stopped trusting the American government. I am here to restore that trust.”

He also defended federal health agencies’ response to the measles outbreak.

“We, under my leadership, handled the measles outbreak better than any country in the world,” Kennedy said, citing comparisons with Mexico and Canada.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) credited Kennedy with helping manage a major outbreak in his state.

“I know — without a question — we would not be on the right side of this outbreak without your leadership and without your help,” Scott said, citing coordination with state officials and federal support.

Flu vaccines have ‘something like a 20% efficacy’

Kennedy’s stance on flu vaccines also drew scrutiny after a severe season.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) noted that 89% of children who died were unvaccinated and questioned Kennedy’s pullback of federal messaging.

Kennedy responded that last year’s vaccine had “something like a 20% efficacy” and said “single antigen vaccines” may not serve the public interest.

“There are studies that show that getting a flu shot actually increases the chance” of an infection, he said.

Asked about ending flu vaccine requirements for U.S. troops, Kennedy said the move recognized that service members “fight for our freedoms, and that they should have some freedom too.”

Pressed on whether health agencies will monitor outbreaks in the military, he said, “We definitely monitor flu outbreaks,” though not through programs specific to the armed forces.

Senator: ‘Quacks and conspiracy theorists’ guide vaccine policy

Democrats repeatedly accused Kennedy of undermining confidence in vaccines, pointing to a string of high-profile policy changes earlier this year.

In January, the CDC revised the childhood immunization schedule. A federal judge blocked those changes in March and blocked newly appointed members of the CDC’s advisory committee, prompting the administration to issue new rules for the panel.

Against that backdrop, Democrats unleashed a torrent of sharp criticism.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) said Kennedy was handpicking “quacks and conspiracy theorists to guide vaccine policy” in an effort to promote his own theories over the health of the American people.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) echoed Hassan, saying Kennedy used his platform to “make parents doubt themselves and doubt their doctors,” when “vaccines save lives.”

Even some Republicans raised concerns. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who supported Kennedy’s confirmation, challenged his argument that COVID-19 mistrust is fueling declining vaccination rates.

The “trust gap has worsened over the last year due to false statements” about vaccines, Cassidy said. “I am a doctor who has seen people die from vaccine-preventable diseases.”

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Cassidy also questioned whether new leadership at the CDC would be free to act independently of political appointees that he said are undermining trust.

“The CDC director has that power now,” Kennedy replied, adding that claims about political interference are wrong.

Sanders added his own criticism, saying doctors nationwide are “concerned about actions” taken by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC.

He pointed to research in The Lancet estimating that vaccines have prevented 154 million deaths since 1974. Kennedy dismissed that as a “modeling study” and cited a study in Pediatrics emphasizing sanitation and hygiene.

“You’re entitled to your view,” Sanders said.

“That’s not my view. That’s CDC’s view,” Kennedy replied.

New food guidance to ‘revolutionize the dietary culture’ in U.S.

Food policy drew some of the broadest support.

Sanders welcomed efforts to curb ultraprocessed foods, but noted confusing nutrition labels. “Many parents who would like to buy healthy food for their kids really can’t make sense of the labeling,” he said.

Kennedy said the administration is close to addressing that, with a formal definition of ultraprocessed foods and labeling “ready to go” once interagency reviews wrap up.

He framed diet as central to the country’s health crisis.

“Eighty percent of young doctors today” say they feel ill-equipped to offer nutrition advice, yet “90% of our chronic diseases are diet-induced,” Kennedy said.

The new science-based federal guidance will emphasize protein, vegetables and whole grains, which could “revolutionize the dietary culture in this country,” he said.

Republicans largely agreed, pushing for changes in subsidies and in the food served in schools and hospitals.

“You are a hero in my state, because the kids are starting to understand the food pyramid,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told Kennedy. “It has caught fire.”

Kennedy defends executive order despite ‘disagreement’ over glyphosate

Lawmakers also pressed Kennedy on glyphosate and a recent executive order to boost domestic production.

He said the administration is working to phase out the herbicide — backed by $200 million in federal funding — while still supporting farmers during the transition.

“I have expressed my disagreement about this issue,” he said of continued use.

He also argued the transition is partly about reducing reliance on foreign supply chains.

At the same time, Kennedy framed the policy as a supply chain move, not an expansion of use.

When Hassan asked whether more production could mean higher cancer risk, he pushed back.

“It’s increasing domestic production to displace the Chinese production,” he said, adding the order does not increase overall use.

Related articles in The Defender

The post RFK Jr. Clashes With Lawmakers Over Measles, COVID and Chronic Disease appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.

 

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