A measles outbreak now, 2 months after his nomination, can hardly be his fault, though, could it? Falling vaccine coverage over the years is a problem that likely increased due to the failed COVID-19 policies that you championed.
Dr. Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, March 2025
In January, I wrote an article for Sensible Medicine titled The Nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services: a New Beginning? I said:
RFK Jr. will be a net positive for public health in the US. The mainstream media – who were the most important enablers of the destructive COVID-19 policies – are falling over themselves and screaming wolf, oblivious to the fact that current US public health is a complete failure.
Just a few months into RFK Jr.’s tenure, I have been proven right. This week brought sad news that a second unvaccinated child died of measles in Texas. Predictably, many so-called “vaccine advocates” are rushing to blame RFK Jr. for this tragedy. That’s inane. A measles outbreak now, 2 months after his nomination, can hardly be his fault, though, could it?
RFK Jr. started his tenure in February 2025, which erased his 20-year history of anti-vaccine disinformation. The fact that he was promoting the movie Vaxxed III – Authorized to Kill just last fall was rendered irrelevant. The moment he put his hand on the Bible to be sworn into office, he was born again. He emerged fresh, new, clean, and blameless. Nothing RFK Jr. said or will ever say can ever be blamed for low-vaccination rates.
Indeed, not only were his past sins washed away, his future ones were also forgiven. For example, in March 2025 he said:
There are adverse events from the vaccine. It does cause deaths every year. It causes — it causes all the illnesses that measles itself causes, encephalitis and blindness, et cetera. And so people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves.
However, this sort of rhetoric, coming from the HHS secretary is of no consequence either. Here are some other recent headlines, for which RFK Jr. deserves no condemnation or blame.
- RFK Jr.: It Would Be Better If ‘Everybody Got Measles
- Texas Children Poisoned After RFK Jr Touts Vitamin A As Measles Treatment
- Dozens Of Free Measles Vaccine Clinics Close In Texas As Federal Funding Is Cut
- NIH To Terminate Or Limit Grants Related To Vaccine Hesitancy And Uptake
- CDC Will Research Widely Debunked Link Between Vaccines And Autism
- The CDC Buried a Measles Forecast That Stressed the Need for Vaccinations
- RFK Jr. Suggests Some Vaccines Are Risky Or Ineffective, Downplays Measles Threat
I hope you’ll watch this video too. As RFK Jr. points out, the measles vaccines “wanes very quickly”, it’s only sick kids dying anyways, and measles isn’t really what is killing them after all. He has even uttered a couple of pro-vaccine sentiments, though everyone knows he doesn’t really believe it. This is all net positive for public health in the US, exactly as I said it would be. You should be grateful I helped unleash RFK Jr. on the USA.
Non-satire comment: RFK Jr. is lying.
I rarely made predictions during the pandemic, but I’ll make one now. When measles and polio return these doctors will blame everyone but themselves and @RobertKennedyJr. Just watch. Bookmark this.
Dr. Jonathan Howard, December 2024
So who is at fault for the measles outbreaks this year? Why are parents refusing to vaccinate their children? Why are vaccine clinics closing in Texas? Why are parents poisoning their children with quack measles cures? Why did the NIH end grants to limit vaccine hesitancy? Why did the CDC bury a measles forecast that stressed the need for vaccinations?
There is simple answer to these questions. Falling vaccine coverage over the years is a problem that likely increased due to the failed COVID policies that Dr. Jonathan Howard championed.
I’ll give Dr. Howard credit for one thing. He was smart enough to try to get ahead of the problem. He could see where this was all headed, and in December 2024 he unbelievably tried to blame RFK Jr. and doctors like me who supported him. He said:
I rarely made predictions during the pandemic, but I’ll make one now. When measles and polio return these doctors will blame everyone but themselves and @RobertKennedyJr. Just watch. Bookmark this.
How pathetic.
Dr. Howard obviously doesn’t want to take responsibly for the failed COVID policies he championed here at Science Based Medicine. In his article Is an Abnormal Lab Value After Vaccination More Concerning Than Death From COVID?, he argued that death was worse than an elevated troponin in a child who felt fine. That’s an absurd policy to have championed! In his article “We’ll Have Herd Immunity by April”: Reflections on a Failed Prediction he argued that we didn’t have herd immunity to COVID in April 2021. What a ridiculous policy that was! In his article Incorrect Numbers, he argued that doctors should present accurate data to their readers. That’s a horrible policy. In his article The CDC Should Do Better, he said the CDC should do a better job of reporting COVID data. What an embarrassing policy to have championed.
In every article he championed one failed COVID policy or another, and this was very influential in the Mennonite community in Texas, where he has a huge following. It’s no wonder that after reading his article Children, Underlying Conditions, and COVID-19 parents declined the MMR for their child. It’s the only logical conclusion, and that article was widely read in West Texas at the time.
If you have any doubt about the power of Dr. Howard’s articles to lower vaccine rates, consider that the most recent child to die was 8-year-old Daisy Hildebrand, who should have received her first MMR dose before the pandemic. Indeed, Dr. Howard’s failed COVID policies can travel back in time. That’s how powerful he is.
You see, if sweet, innocent RFK Jr. is to blame for measles outbreaks and deaths, then I would be to blame for fluffing him. Luckily, that’s not the case. Unlike Dr. Howard, I can sleep at night. I vouched for RFK Jr.