Five years ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered remarks in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he praised the community’s low childhood vaccination rates and downplayed the seriousness of measles.
“I am a measles survivor,” he joked to laughs and applause, adding that he was “very, very lucky to have lived through that nightmare because we had to stay at home and watch TV the whole week with all of my brothers and sisters. It was horrible.” Kennedy added that chicken soup and vitamin A constitute a “cure for measles.”
Five years later, the anti-science conspiracy theorist is the nation’s health secretary, and he finds himself once again in the spotlight after two people died of measles — in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. MS NOW reported:
Two unvaccinated people in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, have died from measles, the state Department of Health announced Tuesday.
The people, whose ages were not released by officials, citing privacy concerns, were the first measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania in 35 years. There have been 393 cases confirmed in the state this year and 70 people have been hospitalized from the viral disease, according to the Health Department.
A related New York Times report added, “The deaths come during a record-setting year for measles in the United States: More cases have been reported in 2026 than in any year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000.”
Although Kennedy hasn’t yet publicly commented on these entirely preventable deaths, he did call Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, who apparently had some choice words for the longtime anti-vaccine activist.
“I was very, very blunt with him,” the governor told reporters, “and I made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that’s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America, particularly right here in Pennsylvania.
“Sharing conspiracy theories and misinformation does not help the cause of public health — and it leaves people less healthy and less safe, and it leaves parents in a position where it’s harder for us to do our jobs to protect our children.”
Shapiro added that there are “real-life consequences to spreading misinformation.”
Donald Trump, who was responsible for nominating Kennedy, also hasn’t commented on the preventable deaths, though he has spent recent weeks telling the American public that the existing MMR vaccine, which protects people against measles, can possibly be “quite lethal” (which is insane) and might also be comparable to a “nuclear weapon” (which is also insane).
As for Kennedy, the Pennsylvania governor did not explicitly call for his resignation, but a Democratic senator from a neighboring state took the opportunity to join the growing chorus of voices saying Kennedy needs to go.
“RFK Jr.’s lies and conspiracy theories are making Marylanders sick,” Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland wrote online. “RFK Jr. must resign or be fired.”
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