In defending his record on measles, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. twice said during a recent Senate hearing, “We promote” the measles vaccine. While it’s true that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend the shot, Kennedy has rarely made an unequivocal endorsement of it, even as the nation has seen an alarming rise in measles cases.

Over a series of seven congressional hearings in April, Kennedy, who previously led a nonprofit that has spread vaccine misinformation, was quizzed about his views on the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine and his response to the many large outbreaks of measles over the last year and a half.

Experts blame the outbreaks on a decline in the vaccination rate, particularly in some areas of the country where vaccine coverage is especially low, which allows introductions of the disease to spread and grow. The U.S. eliminated the disease in 2000, meaning there hadn’t been continuous transmission of measles for more than a year within U.S. borders. With few exceptions, the U.S. has seen no more than a few hundred cases annually for many years. But since January 2025, there have been more than 4,200 cases and the first measles deaths since 2015.

When asked by a senator on April 22 what he was doing to reduce the number of measles cases and improve the MMR vaccination rate, Kennedy responded, “Improve the MMR. We promote the MMR. We have advised every child to get the MMR. That’s what we do.”

In the same hearing, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado similarly asked, “Are you taking the position, as your CDC director has taken, that the measles vaccine is vital to keeping American children healthy in this country? Are you taking that position today? That has not been your position.”

“That’s my position. I — we promote the measles vaccine,” Kennedy said. “The measles vaccine prevents measles in 97% of the people who take it. I’ve always said that. That’s what the science says.”

Kennedy had often noted the MMR vaccine’s effectiveness. But prior to last month, we could not find a single instance in which Kennedy offered vigorous, unqualified support for the vaccine, without including or later adding inaccurate or misleading information that might cause someone to rethink vaccination.

We reviewed his statements, focusing on the last year and a half, to put his claim in context. In the interactive timeline below, we identify Kennedy’s most significant remarks with respect to measles or the MMR vaccine.

For example, in an April 2025 X post that was widely covered by the press and angered some of his anti-vaccine supporters, Kennedy accurately stated that the MMR vaccine is the “most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.”

Later the same day, however, Kennedy posted again, writing that two local doctors “have treated and healed some 300 measles-stricken Mennonite children.” He cited two drugs that don’t have evidence to support them as a treatment for the disease.

Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that has no cure or specific therapies. While vaccination or immunoglobulin shortly after exposure can be effective, once someone is sick, physicians can only treat symptoms.

In much of his messaging, Kennedy was willing to say the vaccine works. But he also emphasized parental choice and spoke of vaccine safety concerns.

“We should have informed choice, and — but if people don’t want it, they shouldn’t be — the government shouldn’t force them to do it,” Kennedy said of vaccination in a March 11, 2025, interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, a little more than a month into a measles outbreak in West Texas. “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, etc. And so, people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves. And — and what we need to do is give them the best information, encourage them to vaccinate. The vaccine does stop the spread of the disease.”

The MMR vaccine is a very safe vaccine, and there isn’t evidence it causes deaths “every year.” While serious side effects can occur, they are rare. Because the vaccine contains a live but weakened virus, it can in extremely rare cases lead to a measles infection that can be severe or fatal in someone who is severely immunocompromised. For this reason, the vaccine is not supposed to be given to anyone who has a serious immunodeficiency. The Infectious Diseases Society of America notes on its website that there have been “no deaths shown to be related to the MMR vaccine in healthy people.”

Even when Kennedy has said that he recommends the vaccine — usually only when asked directly or pressed to do so — he limited the endorsement to certain groups or undercut it by offering other inaccurate information that could discourage vaccination.

In his first non-Fox network TV interview as secretary, Kennedy did say when asked that it was his position and the federal government’s position that “people should get the measles vaccine.”

“But,” he added, “the government should not be mandating those.” He went on to misleadingly say that the risks of vaccines are unknown because they are not adequately safety tested. (It is up to individual states to determine the vaccinations required to attend school; while all states as of 2025 require the MMR vaccine, it is not mandated at the federal level.)

Earlier in the interview, Kennedy baselessly claimed that the two children who died of measles in Texas actually died of other things (the state health authorities have said both deaths were caused by measles). He also wrongly implied that measles outbreaks were occurring “because the vaccine wanes very quickly.”

In each of these appearances, even if Kennedy did briefly say that the vaccine was being recommended, the overall takeaway for viewers may not have been to go out and get the vaccine.

Dr. David Gorski, a professor of surgery and oncology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine who blogs about vaccine misinformation and has been following Kennedy for more than a decade, told us that he had observed a nuanced shift in Kennedy’s language since becoming health secretary.

Kennedy has “toned down” his rhetoric, “but without really changing the overall message,” he said. “RFK Jr.’s and CDC’s messaging has basically been, ‘You can take the MMR if you want to and it’ll prevent measles, but measles isn’t so bad.’”

Kennedy, as far as we can tell, did not say the MMR vaccine was safe until his congressional testimony on April 16, when Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Democrat of Pennsylvania, asked him — yes or no — if the MMR vaccine is “safe and effective.” He said, “Yes.” But even then, he qualified the statement, adding, “It’s safe for most people.”

Other HHS officials have made stronger endorsements of the MMR vaccine.

“There is no cure for measles, which is why prevention is so critical,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, National Institutes of Health director and then-acting CDC director, said in a March 2 video posted to X. “The MMR vaccine remains the most reliable and effective way to prevent it. Two doses are 97% effective at providing lifelong protection against measles and its complications. Vaccination protects not only individuals but entire communities.”

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, told CNN on Feb. 8, “Take the vaccine, please. We have a solution for our problem.”

We reached out to HHS to ask for comment and also to identify positive remarks Kennedy has made about the MMR or measles vaccine. We didn’t get a response. Previously, the agency has told other news outlets that HHS leadership “has consistently said that the MMR vaccine is the best way to prevent the spread of measles and protect public health.”

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Maryland election officials are mailing replacement ballots to voters after a vendor error led to some voters receiving a mail-in ballot for the wrong political party’s primary in June. However, in criticizing the mix-up, President Donald Trump distorted the facts to claim that 500,000 “fake,” “corrupt” and “illegal” ballots had been mailed to ensure “Democrats win.”

The original ballots have been “voided” and can’t be cast, state election officials said. Maryland also has a closed primary, which means Democratic and Republican voters may vote only in the party primary for which they are registered.

In response to Trump, Maryland’s top elections official posted on social media that “no fake OR illegal mail-in ballots were distributed.” Also, while more than 500,000 people requested mail-in ballots for the state’s primary election on June 23, election officials said it’s unknown how many individuals were mistakenly mailed ballots to vote in the primary of the wrong party. The vendor error affected ballots mailed to voters prior to May 14. 

“While it is possible only a small number of voters received the wrong ballot, and most voters received the correct ballot, all voters must be issued a replacement ballot. This action of resending ballots maintains the integrity and security of mail-in voting,” the Maryland State Board of Elections said in a May 15 statement announcing the error made by Taylor Print & Visual Impressions Inc., the vendor that printed the state’s mail-in ballots.

A voter puts a ballot in the ballot drop box at the Silver Spring Civic Center in Maryland on July 19, 2022. Photo by Robb Hill for the Washington Post via Getty Images.

But news of the ballot mistake prompted Trump to respond a few days later with an attack on voting by mail. The president has a history of making false and unsupported claims about mail-in voting, including after he lost the 2020 election. Last year, he said he would “lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS,” and he has pushed for passage of a version of the Save America Act that would eliminate mail-in voting with limited exceptions.

“Maybe the worst of all is the mail-in ballots,” Trump said while talking about election integrity at a May 18 White House event on healthcare affordability. “As you know, in Maryland, 500,000 fake ballots were sent out. When they were caught, they said, ‘Oh, we’ll pull them back.’ And they issued 500,000 new ballots. And as you know, they never got the original ballots back. So, there are a million ballots out there. Many of them went to Democrats and it’s a very serious thing.” He went on to claim that “illegal” and “fraudulent” ballots had been mailed to voters.

That same day, in a post on Truth Social, the president wrote that because “many of these Ballots went to Democrats … any Republican running in Maryland doesn’t have a chance!” He then blamed it all on Wes Moore, Maryland’s Democratic governor, who is running for reelection. “He allowed this to happen in order to make sure that Democrats win,” Trump said, adding that he would ask the U.S. attorney general and the Department of Justice to investigate what happened.

Three days later, in remarks on May 21, Trump again said that Maryland “got caught with 500,000 mail-in ballots that were corrupt,” and he told the public not to believe that the error was due to a vendor “mistake.”

Trump may not believe it, but that doesn’t mean that’s not what happened.

On May 18, in another statement about the mailings, the Maryland State Board of Elections explained the situation further: 

Maryland State Board of Elections, May 18: Beginning on May 9, 2026, mail-in ballots were sent out to all voters that requested them on or before May 6, 2026. While some voters may have received the correct ballot and party affiliation as they are registered, an error in the coding with SBE’s mail-in ballot vendor resulted in some voters receiving the wrong party ballot. Since the mail-in vendor was unable to accurately identify who received correct ballots and who did not receive correct ballots, SBE determined the only course of action to ensure the integrity and security of mail-in voting was sending all voters who requested a mail-in ballot by mail a new ballot.

State election officials said that only ballots that were mailed prior to May 14 were affected, and those ballots were not “fake,” nor “illegal,” according to Jared DeMarinis, the state administrator of elections in Maryland.

“It bears repeating that no fake OR illegal mail-in ballots were distributed,” DeMarinis said in a May 18 post on X. “The wording in President Trump’s continued posts about Maryland’s elections creates an environment of misinformation on a voting right. Mail-in voting is not a partisan issue. Mail-in voting is legal.”

DeMarinis also clarified in his X thread that elections in Maryland are “administered, supervised and managed” by him and the bipartisan State Board of Elections – not the governor, to whom Trump assigned blame.

State election officials said that affected voters would be notified and that they should discard or destroy the first ballot they received and vote using the replacement ballot. The new ballots will be mailed by May 29 in an envelope that says “REPLACEMENT BALLOT INSIDE,” the SBE said.

Importantly, the election officials also said that there is no risk of double voting as the original ballots that were mailed out have already been “voided” in the voter registration system. That includes any inaccurate ballots that voters already may have mailed to local elections offices before the mailing mistake was caught.

On a page answering frequently asked questions about the replacement ballots, the SBE said: “Election officials have safeguards in place to ensure that only one ballot can be accepted per voter. Every return envelope/oath has a unique identifier to ensure that a voter can only vote one ballot. SBE has implemented additional safeguards to ensure only the correct ballot is counted for each voter.”

Furthermore, because the only ballots that were affected are for the June primary election, Trump’s suggestion that “any Republican running in Maryland doesn’t have a chance” in the November general election for governor is false.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102. 

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