US Health Secretary Urges Vaccination Amid Record Measles Outbreak

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has urged parents to vaccinate their children following a record-breaking measles outbreak in the United States.

Mr Kennedy, a longtime vaccine critic who has regularly told Americans they should not take medical advice from him, warned people to get the jab during a heated interview on CNN on Sunday, local time.

“Parents should get their children vaccinated for measles," he said.

"A measles vaccine is effective, it stops measles in about 97 per cent of the cases. People should get vaccinated.”

The rise in measles, declared essentially eradicated in the US a quarter of a century ago, has been linked by medical experts to slumping immunisation rates, a trend many attribute in part to vaccine scepticism espoused by Mr Kennedy.

More than 2,370 cases of measles have been confirmed in the US this year, already breaking last year's multi-decade high.

During the CNN interview, Mr Kennedy was asked if he took any responsibility for the measles surge.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

Mr Kennedy later went on to accuse CNN host Dana Bash of "repeating like a parrot" and becoming "flustered".

Worst year for measles in decades

Many health officials have cited a public backlash to the government's pandemic response and blame Mr Kennedy's anti-vaccine policies for further undermining trust in immunisations.

"The whole thing about 'vaccines have been tested and there's been this determination made' is just a lie," Mr Kennedy said in a 2025 interview.

The nation had 2,289 cases in 2025, the most since 1991.

This year there have been major outbreaks in South Carolina, Utah and Arizona, as well as smaller clusters in other states.

International health officials will meet in November to determine if the US and Mexico have lost their measles-free status.

The US eliminated the local spread of measles in 2000 by maintaining high vaccination rates, but in recent years they have fallen below the 95 per cent coverage needed to prevent outbreaks.

Measles cases under-counted

Public health departments and disease researchers have long acknowledged that official counts of disease cases are incomplete because not everyone seeks treatment.

Experts suspect the spread of measles cases may be wider than has been reported due to the decline in vaccination rates.

National vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella — which dropped to 92.5 per cent among kindergarteners in the 2024-25 school year, from 95.2 per cent in 2019-20 — obscure even lower rates in certain communities.

In Utah, where public health officials have fought measles for more than a year, the virus has struck more than 700 people during that time, according to the state health department.

Experts relying on mathematical modelling and genetic analyses indicate that a large outbreak on the Utah-Arizona border could be three to four times bigger than what is known, according to Utah state epidemiologist Leisha Nolen.