Trump's anti-vaccine Health Secretary recommended the measles vaccine after the death of a second child.

U.S. Health Secretary RFK Jr., known for his opposition to vaccines, said, "People should get the measles vaccine, but the government should not make it mandatory."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), known for anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, has started recommending the measles vaccine following the death of a second child due to a measles outbreak in the country. After attending the funeral of an eight-year-old girl who died from measles, RFK Jr. told CBS News, "People should get the measles vaccine, but the government should not make it mandatory." Meanwhile, the Secretary of Health did not fail to express his longstanding, skeptical views on vaccine safety: "We do not know the risks of most of these products because they have not been tested for safety." Texas has been experiencing a serious measles outbreak for months, during which over 500 people have fallen ill and two small children have died. Following the recent deaths, RFK Jr. surprised many over the weekend on social media by stating that the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine is the most effective way to prevent the spread of the outbreak. This statement provoked anger among his anti-vaccine supporters who have been following him for a long time. The Secretary also made another false claim related to the outbreak on the evening of April 6. His post praising "two extraordinary healers" who he claimed effectively treated nearly 300 measles-infected children with a steroid called budesonide and an antibiotic called clarithromycin angered health officials once again. Indeed, scientists state that there is no treatment for measles infections, including budesonide and clarithromycin, and that claims to the contrary diminish the importance of vaccination.

From a prominent environmental lawyer to a 'conspiracy' author, RFK Jr. built his career as an environmental attorney fighting to increase access to needs that are extremely important for public health, such as clean water. The lawyer, once seen as a leader of this movement, was thought to be leaving a serious legacy of work behind. However, by adopting the belief that vaccines are not safe nearly 20 years ago and focusing almost solely on this issue, he became a controversial figure in both politics and public opinion. Over the years, he has argued that he is not anti-vaccine but only wants vaccines to be rigorously tested. However, he also gained notoriety for opposing all vaccines and proposing increasingly extreme theories regarding them. In a 2023 podcast interview, RFK Jr. stated, "There is no safe and effective vaccine," and recently went so far as to claim that chemicals mixed in water cause "transsexualism."

One of the 12 people spreading COVID-19 misinformation, researchers from the Digital Hate Research Center identified in a study conducted in 2021 that only 12 individuals were responsible for most of the misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines circulating on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. One of the 12 individuals identified as responsible for 65% of the anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms was RFK Jr. In these posts, the lawyer shared claims such as that 5G internet caused COVID-19 and that baseball legend Hank Aaron died due to vaccines. The posts from the identified 12 accounts showed tendencies to deny the existence of COVID, suggest false medications to overcome the disease, assert that no real vaccine has been developed, and claim that healthcare workers profited from the pandemic.