Robert F Kennedy Jr Slams The Media and ‘Demagogue’ Politicians For Making Americans Terrified of Measles

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slammed the press and “demagogue” politicians like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) for trying to terrify the American public about measles, while at the same time turning a blind eye to what he said are more serious health threats posed by “powerful entities” like Big Pharma and Big Food.

The Health and Human Services secretary shared his take during a Saturday town hall on Fox News.

“There’s no reason that anybody in America should be dying of measles in this day and age. There’s no reason. It’s malpractice if that happens,” Kennedy said. “I will say this: in 10 years, there have been three measles deaths in America. There are now about 1.2 million deaths every year from food-induced illness.”

He continued, “the media and certain demagogue politicians are constantly trying to scare us about infectious disease, and we take attention away from the chronic disease that is being caused by powerful entities — by big food companies, by big pharmaceutical companies.”

Kennedy’s remark comes as measles cases in the U.S. have hit a three-decade high, with about 2,200 recorded by Mid-July. His response was part of a lengthy answer after a woman asked him if the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine should he mandatory for children, in light of two reported measles deaths in Lancaster, Pennsylvania last week.

The secretary started his answer by calling into question whether the deaths were actually caused by measles — and said Shapiro was exploiting the deaths for political gain.

“We’re still trying to get information about the measles deaths — the so-called measles deaths in Lancaster County,” Kennedy said. “I talked with the county commissioner this morning and he says there was no measles deaths. There was a press conference by the governor, it was highly politicized, and we saw a lot of the sort of old Covid playbook rolled out, where there was finger pointing and politicizing and fear mongering.”

Kennedy continued, saying the number of kids vaccinated against measles around the world dropped during the pandemic and after, since “a lot of people across the lost faith in the public health systems.” On a similar note, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) last week blamed unvaccinated illegal immigrants for the surge in measles cases in the U.S.

Saturday in America host Kayleigh McEnany then pushed Kennedy to answer the woman’s initial question, asking “what would you recommend to America’s children” when it came to the MMR vaccine.

“The MMR vaccine works. 97% effectiveness… it’s very, very effective,” Kennedy said.

Watch above.

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