RFK Jr’s Measles Op-Ed Plays The Same Old Anti-Vaxx Games — But Fox News Threw Their Readers a Lifeline

Amid growing criticism as the measles outbreak continues to spread, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote an op-ed for Fox News Digital that got some praise for encouraging vaccinations. But a closer read of what Kennedy actually wrote shows he is still playing his same old tired anti-vaxxer games.

President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate the namesake of Robert F. Kennedy to lead HHS was loudly criticized because of Kennedy’s long history of controversial comments and anti-vaccine activism. Kennedy insisted to Senators weighing his confirmation that he was not anti-vaccine, but his critics pointed to years and years of him saying things like “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Nonetheless, he squeaked by in a 52-48 vote mostly along party lines; former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was the sole Republican to vote against him.

The recent measles outbreak in Texas — including, sadly, one child who died — has turned up the heat on Kennedy’s stewardship of the nation’s health infrastructure, with many calling for him to step forward to personally encourage vaccinations. This outbreak and the cases that have started pop up in other states have been documented as connected to falling rates of vaccination, with the vast majority of the patients who required hospitalization being unvaccinated or having an unknown vaccination status. The Texas child who died was unvaccinated.

Sunday evening, Fox News Digital published an op-ed by Kennedy titled “Measles outbreak is call to action for all of us.”

Kennedy’s op-ed sparked a flurry of headlines, with several inferring an intent to encourage vaccinations: “RFK Jr. urges people to get vaccinated amid deadly Texas outbreak” (Axios); “RFK Jr changes stance on measles outbreak as virus spreads” (BBC); “Vaccine critic RFK Jr. backs measles vaccine amid deadly Texas outbreak” (CBS News).

But did Kennedy, who spent years aggressively amplifying debunked conspiracy theories that the MMR vaccine causes autism, actually come out in favor of it? Kennedy, the same guy who was lambasted during his confirmation hearing because his nonprofit group was peddling anti-vaccine baby onesies?

Looking at what Kennedy actually wrote, there is a clearly evident pattern of careful and crafty word selection that repeatedly frames vaccination as a choice for parents, like breast milk vs. formula or cloth vs. disposable diapers, where there might be debate but either option is a fine and valid choice.

Kennedy begins the op-ed by stating that as HHS Secretary he is “deeply concerned about the recent measles outbreak” that has “escalated rapidly.” He notes the latest numbers in Texas and that the outbreak had now “claimed the life of a school-aged child,” but does not mention that the child was unvaccinated. Nor does he mention that the vaccine is the best known way to protect against measles’ potentially deadly or life-altering complications.

The way Kennedy describes measles deploys several rhetorical tactics used by anti-vaccine activists, like mentioning how “virtually every child” used to get measles and lists first the “just a cold” and “just a fever” symptoms commonly cited by anti-vaxxers to downplay the seriousness of the disease. He then writes that most cases are “mild” and complications are “rare,” with a much shorter list.

Fear-mongering isn’t helpful, but it’s not the runny nose and rash that makes us worry about measles. It’s the risk of pneumonia, blindness, deafness, immune amnesia, or encephalitis that causes a child’s brain to swell until they suffer permanent intellectual disabilities or death (there’s also a secondary risk of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) that can occur up to a decade after the measles infection and is always fatal).

Kennedy’s column continues, saying that he had directed the CDC and other agencies under the HHS umbrella to “work closely with the Texas health authorities to provide comprehensive support,” and offer “technical assistance, laboratory support, vaccines, and therapeutic medications as needed.”

Did you catch that? He’s not encouraging vaccines but merely offering them “as needed,” as the third thing on the list. This vaccines-as-just-another-option framing continues (emphasis added):

As healthcare providers, community leaders, and policymakers, we have a shared responsibility to protect public health. This includes ensuring that accurate information about vaccine safety and efficacy is disseminated. We must engage with communities to understand their concerns, provide culturally competent education, and make vaccines readily accessible for all those who want them.

…Parents play a pivotal role in safeguarding their children’s health. All parents should consult with their healthcare providers to understand their options to get the MMR vaccine. The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.

He never once says people should get vaccinated, and get their children vaccinated.

He never once rejects his past conspiracy mongering and says the MMR vaccine does not cause autism.

He never once says the vaccine is safe and highly effective.

Instead, the vaccine presented as just another treatment option, like you might select among a combination of NyQuil, Tylenol, green tea, and chicken soup next time you catch a cold. To further muddy the waters, Kennedy devotes a few paragraphs to “therapeutic medications” like vitamin A and “[g]ood nutrition”:

It is also our responsibility to provide up-to-date guidance on available therapeutic medications. While there is no approved antiviral for those who may be infected, CDC has recently updated their recommendation supporting administration of vitamin A under the supervision of a physician for those with mild, moderate, and severe infection. Studies have found that vitamin A can dramatically reduce measles mortality.

…Tens of thousands died with, or of, measles annually in 19th Century America. By 1960 — before the vaccine’s introduction — improvements in sanitation and nutrition had eliminated 98% of measles deaths. Good nutrition remains a best defense against most chronic and infectious illnesses. Vitamins A, C, and D, and foods rich in vitamins B12, C, and E should be part of a balanced diet.

No one is seriously questioning the benefits of vitamin-rich foods and Vitamin A has been shown to help with some measles symptoms but neither is anywhere near as protective as not getting measles in the first place because you were vaccinated. Toxicity from vitamin A overdose is also a real risk since it is fat-soluble, especially in this age of people ordering medicines online to self-treat.

Here’s how Kennedy wrapped his op-ed:

The measles outbreak in Texas is a call to action for all of us to reaffirm our commitment to public health. By working together — parents, healthcare providers, community leaders, and government officials, we can prevent future outbreaks and protect the health of our nation. Under my leadership, HHS is and will always be committed to radical transparency to regain the public’s trust in its health agencies.

For more information about measles, please visit the CDC’s official website or contact your local health department.

A call to action…to do…what, exactly? “Work together” and “reaffirm our commitment to public health” — what balderdash. Might as well have been copied and pasted from some generic corporate press release template, right after the bit about “thinking outside the box” to “develop synergies” to “take us into the 21st century.”

And there’s his final words, asking readers to visit the CDC’s website or contact their local health department if they want “more information,” wrapping up over 700 words about an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease by furiously dodging any opportunity to urge readers to get that vaccine.

This sort of vague language can also be found in Kennedy’s tweets about the measles outbreak. On February 28, he posted a long tweet saying that HHS had “[s]upported Texas Department of Health through technical assistance and vaccines,” “will continue to fund Texas’ immunization program,” and had “[u]pdated the CDC website” with guidance about vitamin A. All mention of vaccines was hidden from view until the “Show more” link was clicked, and there is no language actually encouraging vaccinations.

Kennedy’s March 2 tweet borrowed the vague corporate speak from the op-ed’s conclusion about the outbreak being a “call to action.” There’s no mention of vaccines in the tweet itself.

Kennedy used arguably harsher language — “this deadly and virulent pestilence” — in a tweet announcing that HHS was working with two other federal agencies to combat anti-Semitic harassment on college campuses than he did for the actual deadly and virulent disease that does actually fall under his agency’s purview.

With all that in mind, it is worth noting several subtle yet important ways that the Fox News Digital editors appear to have shined a light to give readers a chance to consider a more pro-vaccine message.

Op-ed contributors customarily have little to no control over headlines, but here we can see the headline clearly draws from the “call to action” language of Kennedy’s conclusion.

It’s the subheading that gets interesting: “MMR vaccine is crucial to avoiding potentially deadly disease.”

That sentence is nowhere to be found in the op-ed; Kennedy described the vaccine as an option to consider — never a “crucial” defense against a “potentially deadly” virus.

It’s well-documented that readers of online news frequently only skim the headline and maybe a few paragraphs. Fox News’ editors did not put words in Kennedy’s mouth, but they did scoop up his most pro-vaccine sentence from the end of the seventh paragraph and shove it to the front with a spotlight on it, as an enlarged and bolded block quote right after the first paragraph. It’s probably the most pro-vaccine sentence out of the entire piece but it was buried down past several ads and embedded photos and videos. Fox made sure people saw it.

There’s also a video clip embedded at the top of the article from Saturday’s episode of Fox News Live, in which host Molly Line interviews the network’s senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel about the measles outbreak.

In the clip, vaccines come up immediately, with Siegel declaring that the measles outbreak “is occurring, clearly, because of low vaccination rates.” The doctor continues, explaining how effective the vaccine is despite measles being “the most contagious respiratory virus on planet Earth,” and calling the outbreak “a wake-up call.”

That interview with Siegel was probably not specifically flagged by an editor to add to this op-ed. Fox News publishes hundreds of articles on their website every day and the vast majority have a video clip at the top; it seems more likely that their website software automatically suggests a relevant video clip based on the article’s subject matter. Still, that clip and its clear and strong pro-vaccine language from Siegel was available to be embedded in this article because Fox News has hired him as a contributor and invited him on for substantial air time. He’s a familiar and trusted face for Fox viewers and that makes his encouragement to get vaccinated all the more persuasive.

Kennedy has spent years raking in millions of dollars with the “I’m just asking questions” game many other influential conspiracy mongers love to play. But he isn’t asking new questions. He’s trying to re-litigate questions that have already been answered. He and other anti-vaxxers call for “transparency” regarding research that has been publicly posted for years and demand new studies because the decades of results are never enough to satiate them.

This op-ed isn’t Kennedy’s mea culpa. It’s nothing more than the bare minimum he needs to prevent Congress from panicking and initiating impeachment proceedings. He spent years grifting off the fear and distrust he stoked in the anti-vaxxer community and knows the right words to speak to them to keep them enthralled. Beyond simply not renouncing his staunch anti-vaccine views, he devoted a significant portion of the op-ed to bringing up the same old tired arguments pretending that vitamins and clean eating can defeat a dangerous viral supercontagion. Truly, a shame.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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