WASHINGTON — After Pennsylvania health authorities announced that two unvaccinated people had died from measles-associated causes, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the state’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, to offer federal assistance. According to accounts from both men, the call turned heated.
“I was very, very blunt with him, and I made very clear his actions and his rhetoric coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America, particularly right here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said at a press conference Tuesday. “That there’s real-life consequences to spreading misinformation.”
He was referring to comments Kennedy made before he joined the Trump administration that cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of vaccines, including the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, and to his continued mixed messaging on the importance of the MMR shot.
Kennedy’s recent social media remarks continue a pattern that’s been evident since he took on his role in the Trump administration: downplay the severity of measles, dispute his role in spreading misinformation about vaccines, and attempt to focus attention elsewhere.
On Tuesday night, Kennedy didn’t back down. Instead, he accused Shapiro of “gaslighting,” posting from his personal X account a link to The HighWire, a website operated by the anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree, that includes misinformation about vaccines. And he blamed declining pediatric vaccine rates on the Biden administration.
“As I told him, HHS does not tolerate misinformation by any employee. I offered to point to hundreds of instances of vaccine misinformation by the Biden administration about which I had never heard him complain,” Kennedy wrote.
On Wednesday, Kennedy urged people to get vaccinated against measles, speaking at an event on children’s health and nutrition in Tampa, Fla. But he hasn’t posted a comment on X or other platforms. Nor has Erica Schwartz, the recently confirmed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, made public comments about the ongoing measles outbreak or the Pennsylvania deaths.
“We are actually restoring faith in the public health agencies,” Kennedy said in Tampa. He added that the CDC is looking into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
The official CDC account posted its condolences for the families impacted by the deaths, and called the MMR vaccine the “most effective protection against measles.”
Senate health leader Bill Cassidy (R-La.) meanwhile called for vaccinations.
“No one needs to die from measles in 2026,” he wrote on social media on Wednesday.
“Misinformation and misguided policies are leaving children unprotected against a disease we know how to prevent,” Cassidy posted.
This isn’t the only example of vaccine skepticism and misinformation posted by Kennedy in recent days, as children return to school amid rising vaccine exemptions and measles outbreaks in several states, including a recently announced one in Maryland. He also used his personal social media account to amplify inaccurate claims about Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, calling out former Trump administration Surgeon General Jerome Adams.
Kennedy and some of his close aides, including senior White House adviser Calley Means, have tried to downplay the measles outbreaks, instead promoting other policies heralded by the administration, including nutrition and fitness efforts, or shifting the blame onto the Biden administration.
Earlier this month, Kennedy denied responsibility for rising measles rates in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash in another heated exchange where he referenced high rates of measles in other countries.
“First of all, this is an international outbreak. So we’re doing better at handling it than any country in the world,” Kennedy said.
A senior administration official on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak publicly told STAT last week that reexamining side effects of vaccines remains a top priority of Kennedy.
On Tuesday, before posting about his conversation with Shapiro, Kennedy responded to a post by Aaron Siri, his former personal attorney who represents people injured by vaccines, in which Siri claimed the Food and Drug Administration knew that Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine spread particles to the ovaries (which has been disputed). Kennedy called on Adams, who served under the first Trump administration, to offer “appropriate condemnation” for promoting the shot.
“The first Pennsylvania measles deaths in 35 years were just announced yesterday …” Adams responded on X. “[S]o I’m wondering why [Secretary Kennedy] choose [sic] to spend his time/ influence engaging me on THIS nonsense?!”