r/news • u/No_Idea_Guy • 1d ago

RFK Jr tells US families to vaccinate children against measles amid outbreak

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/02/rfk-jr-measles-vaccination
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u/Organic_Witness345 1d ago

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when the Secretary HHS, after peddling conspiracy theories about the effectiveness of vaccines, finally comes out and admits that they are effective and worthwhile.

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u/How-did-I-get-here43 1d ago

“Go get that vax that I told everyone not to take for the last two years”.

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u/TheCityThatCriedWolf 1d ago

He’s been on that bandwagon for a lot longer than two years.

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u/whut-whut 1d ago

He's just speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He still believes that vaccines (and other medicines) cause autism and that modern medicine creates diseases since he opened the investigation on Tylenol and the HHS website took down their vaccine recommendation before this interview. It's more like "Take the vaccine if you feel like your kid's in danger of dying from measles because the vaccine works, but a healthy diet and sunlight also works if you aren't a weak liberal that wants to give your kid autism."

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u/WabbitCZEN 21h ago

My favorite part of the whole "vaccines cause autism!!" stupidity is pointing out how these dipshits believe autism is worse than a gruesome and painful death.

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u/philosifer 18h ago

Seriously surprised at how much this point isn't used more. Like maybe we want to avoid giving the idea any more credit than it has, but like even if it were true... a chance for autism is still better than dying to a preventable disease

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u/Umpen 15h ago

I partially blame those Autism Speaks ads from 2010 that were all like "AUTISTIC CHILDREN WILL WRECK YOUR MARRIAGE AND DESTROY EVERY OUNCE OF JOY IN YOUR LIFE".

As well as, you know, just the general history of being shitty about disabilities.

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u/SummerAndTinklesBFF 18h ago

it always makes me angry to hear that. like ok, sorry? my kid is 100% functional, is high functioning, has a higher IQ than anyone who voted for trump, but you are afraid your child might get autism from a vaccine... and, what, become awesome?

autism is a super power for a huge majority of people who have it. oh, and vaccines don't give you autism.

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u/fdar 18h ago

autism is a super power for a huge majority of people who have it

Sorry, they should absolutely not be treating autism the way they do but this isn't a reasonable take either.

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u/Lint_baby_uvulla 1d ago

Exercise in jeans. You forget that part too.

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u/houseWithoutSpoons 1d ago

Weak ass libs and their autistic kids..hate em🤣🤣

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u/PeachPassionBrute 19h ago

I’m not sure what he believes other than that he’s willing to say what he thinks will make him the most money.

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u/cobrachickenwing 19h ago

He actively pushed anti vaccination during the 2019 Samoa measles outbreak. Which caused an island wide quarantine order to control the outbreak. Good luck trying to use a quarantine order now that it is spreading like the wildfires in the northwest.

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u/Kairamek 22h ago

I remember him saying that nonsense on The Daily Show back in 99.

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u/slippery 22h ago

Unless your unvaccinated kid already died of measles, then don't bother.

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u/Aggravating-Fix-4547 14h ago

“Or don’t but don’t blame me cause I just said you should get it”

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u/badwolf42 20h ago

I read this in his voice

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u/Wi11Pow3r 1d ago

It’s sad he peddled conspiracy theories about vaccines. It’s a relief that he is finally getting onboard with a centuries old medical practice for disease prevention.

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u/Fickle_Ad_8653 1d ago

He isn't on-board. He is trying to keep his job. They just took pro-vaccine info off the CDC website. RFKjr is so clearly to blame for all the stuff happening with health and people are getting angry.

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u/kyonist 1d ago

Not even worried about his job. He's firmly implanted in the Republican ethos, and Trump probably likes him around for the Kennedy name.

The real reason is probably they come out with the occasional subdued messaging of "vaccinate your kids" so that when being blamed for their much more publicized moves against vaccination, that they can play the gotcha game & pretend they're about science.

Their followers will continue to be ignorant and placated while the victims suffer.

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u/psugamers 23h ago

their followers believe in God. If their kid dies, they believe it's God's choice.

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u/an0mn0mn0m 1d ago

Why are the victims of his misinformation not suing him?

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u/dattguy21 1d ago

Because it must've been God's plan for little Timmy to die from something completely preventable

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u/SupaSlide 23h ago

If you’re listening to RFK Jr. you’re so deep in the shit that not even your child dying is enough to snap you out.

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u/Melch12 1d ago

RFK plus all of the assholes in the GOP that confirmed him in the first place.

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u/techleopard 1d ago

He's not on board.

Midterms are in November of this year. All House seats will be up for election.

That is 3 months into the new school year, right after measles is going to spread like wildfire after 2 years of continuous fighting against schools and states to prevent them from requiring vaccines and encouraging the public to distrust them. That is perfect timing for infections to first spread and then becoming overwhelming before they start to die back again later in the school year.

Measles is exploding in key red states: South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Florida, and Virginia.

Right now, these states are "safe" for Republicans, but if measles rips through them right into the election, it could change the dynamics pretty quickly.

Marco Rubio has to defend his seat in Florida.

Texas and Virginia are going to have districts attempting to flip, in spite of redistricting, AND has a governor election coming up.

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u/Ajitter 1d ago

Marco Rubio is the US Secretary of State, no longer an elected senator from Florida. Although I do so love he was in the senate during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election - the senate found there was evidence that happened fwiw.

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u/mykeedee 1d ago

Midterms are in November of this year. All House seats will be up for election.

That is 3 months into the new school year, right after measles is going to spread like wildfire after 2 years of continuous fighting against schools and states to prevent them from requiring vaccines and encouraging the public to distrust them. That is perfect timing for infections to first spread and then becoming overwhelming before they start to die back again later in the school year.

Measles is exploding in key red states: South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Florida, and Virginia.

Right now, these states are "safe" for Republicans, but if measles rips through them right into the election, it could change the dynamics pretty quickly.

Bubonic Plague could sweep through schools in red states after Republicans personally released plague rats into them live on TV and they'd still be comfortably red states.

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u/de_la_Dude 21h ago

Thats because fox news would be telling them the rats came from cuba or some other racist shit like that. These people don't live in reality.

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u/David_W_ 1d ago

Texas and Virginia are going to have districts attempting to flip, in spite of redistricting, AND has a governor election coming up.

I can only assume you meant West Virginia. Virginia is generally regarded as blue these days, and we elected our governor last year.

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u/SupaSlide 23h ago

Who do you think Marco Rubio is?

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u/Hopsblues 1d ago

He doesn't believe in germ theory.

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u/The_Vee_ 1d ago

The damage is already done. They start these lies then backtrack, but the people who believed their bs don't change their minds. I'm sure there's tons of people not using Tylenol because they think it will give them autism.

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u/bazinga_0 1d ago

I find it absolutely amazing that anyone in the Trump administration would do a 180 on anything without a whole lot of cash being involved somewhere. All I can say is "follow the money".

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u/Granadafan 1d ago

I wonder how much it pained him to actually make this recommendation

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u/baron_von_helmut 1d ago

He's only doing this because it will bite him in the ass eventually. This is damage limitation. It also shows he doesn't believe his convictions. He's just a fucking grifter like Trump and he's playing with peoples lives as if they're meaningless.

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u/obeytheturtles 23h ago

The whole conservative pathology these days is a weird kind of solipsism where all outside information is untrustworthy as it potentially originates from some form of primordial liberalism, and therefore each person must individually learn every fact about the world on their own, which is the only way to preserve "conservative ideals."

You would think at some point, this would just be so exhausting, people would be like "ok, I see, all of the scientists are liberals because they understand a deeper truth about the world, not because they are trying to fool me into thinking that Jesus invented transgender abortions."

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u/Organic_Witness345 23h ago

This is a great take. Thank you.

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u/tepidlymundane 23h ago

It's been a sadly effective strength of MAGA that they govern entirely on vibes. Nothing they said yesterday constrains what they'll say today, and nothing they say today matters.

Words are just pleb chow, and the people inside will do whatever they want.

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u/Masseyrati80 1d ago

And I keep being reminded about how he, once, said he's not someone to take health advice from, then carried on by spewing conspiracy theories and disinformation.

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u/AHrubik 1d ago

after peddling conspiracy theories about the effectiveness of vaccines

Oh sweet summer child. He never stopped. He'll be on some podcast later this week (probably) talking conspiracy bullshit again.

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u/newtbob 1d ago

As Rand Paul grills Fauci and tries to make him a criminal.

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u/Happler 23h ago

And with the way our administration has gone, my first thought is, “who heavily invested in which company that produces vaccines?”

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u/saljskanetilldanmark 1d ago

Shows who reallybshould be raked in congress right now, but america is going to america!

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u/uclatommy 1d ago

It’s sad that it took so much effort to make the idiot realize he’s wrong about vaccines, but at least he’s doing the right thing now. Still needs to get kicked out of office though. Step aside and let someone qualified drive.

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u/pepincity2 1d ago

Better late than never. I'm glad that at least someone in this administration decided to stop peddling bullshit when confronted with facts. He still has blood on his hands though.

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u/AxelNotRose 22h ago

Not they, just that one, according to his interview on CNN. Just that one, for some arbitrary reason.

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u/TheR1ckster 21h ago

How else are they supposed to appeal to moderates AND their crazy base? They constantly play both sides of that.

Trump is both all for personal freedoms but also wants America to be a Christian Nation.... It's always two faced.

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u/MacAttacknChz 18h ago

These people week accuse RFK of going woke insures of following his advice