Facebook Twitter Tumblr Close Skip to main content
A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Posts Make Unsupported Claims About Origin of Texas Measles Outbreak

Posts Make Unsupported Claims About Origin of Texas Measles Outbreak

The measles vaccine uses a weakened virus that’s never been shown to spread to others. Samples from the outbreak in Texas also show that a wild-type virus is responsible. Yet, social media posts have falsely claimed that the outbreak is due to a vaccine strain. Without evidence, other posts have blamed immigrants crossing the southern border illegally.

RFK Jr. Misleads About Measles Vaccine in Hannity Interview

RFK Jr. Misleads About Measles Vaccine in Hannity Interview

In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made several unsupported or misleading claims about the measles vaccine, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said is safe and “the most important tool to prevent” the disease. Meanwhile, a measles outbreak in Texas continues to expand. 

Measles Is Harmful, Contrary to Flimsy Social Media Claims of Long-Term Benefits

Measles Is Harmful, Contrary to Flimsy Social Media Claims of Long-Term Benefits

Measles is an extremely contagious vaccine-preventable disease that can lead to death or disability. It also wipes out immune memory for several years after an infection. As an outbreak in Texas continues to expand, social media posts have claimed without sufficient support that measles infections are beneficial later in life against cancer and other diseases, an idea health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has echoed.

RFK Jr. Misleads on Vitamin A, Unsupported Therapies for Measles

RFK Jr. Misleads on Vitamin A, Unsupported Therapies for Measles

In the midst of a growing measles outbreak in Texas that has killed one child, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has misleadingly focused on vitamin A, including from cod liver oil, and two non-standard medications as treatments for measles.

RFK Jr. Minimizes Measles Outbreak in Texas

RFK Jr. Minimizes Measles Outbreak in Texas

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., head of the Department of Health and Human Services, downplayed the seriousness of an ongoing measles outbreak in Texas, falsely claiming that people had been hospitalized “mainly for quarantine” and misleadingly stating that the situation is “not unusual.” The Texas outbreak is already larger than any single outbreak last year and has led to the first measles death in the U.S. since 2015.