Welcome to Public Health Watch, a weekly newsletter from Protect Our Care tracking harmful activity as part of Donald Trump and RFK Jr.’s sweeping assault on public health.
Trump health secretary RFK Jr. is certainly keeping himself occupied— just not with addressing the raging public health crisis before him. Instead, he’d rather try to create new ones.
More and more confirmed reports of measles are pouring in from multiple states, including Utah, Arizona, Ohio, North Carolina, California, Georgia, Oregon and Virginia. But the situation is most dire in South Carolina where confirmed cases now top 430, and “[m]ore than half of those cases were reported in the past week” and almost all among children. The latest infections follow the 2,144 measles cases reported in 2025 (including 3 deaths) — the highest number in over three decades – while “the majority, 93%, were either unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccine status.”
Yet Secretary Kennedy still has not bothered to make any public statements about this 5-alarm public health situation. There’s no sign of urgency or regret from Kennedy after going on national television last year to spew easily disprovable lies about the measles vaccine itself.
So how has the prominent anti-vax activist been using his powerful office, if not to contain the worsening spread of measles? In the last week, Kennedy:
- Confirmed two additional vaccine skeptics to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) despite their history of spreading dangerous and unfounded views.
- Prematurely dismissed two members of the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccinations – a key vaccine injury advisory panel — amid Kennedy’s push to expand the federal compensation program’s scope to include vaccine injuries related to autism despite multiple peer-reviewed studies confirming there is no link. Public health experts have warned RFK’s proposed expansion “could threaten vaccine availability for Americans.”
- Continued to obstruct the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force from meeting, risking higher costs and worse health outcomes for millions of insured Americans.
- Rolled out new dietary guidance that U.S. schools can’t possibly afford.
- Bizarrely boasted about Donald Trump’s supposed “testosterone level.”
Instead of using his power and influence to raise public awareness on how the measles shot is the simplest solution to this worsening crisis, Secretary Kennedy is preoccupied with exploring every available option for undermining Americans’ access to several proven safe and effective vaccines. As a grifting lawyer with financial ties to the “wellness” industry and no medical degree, Kennedy unfortunately never had to take an oath to “do no harm.”
In The News
Measles Outbreaks:
- ABC: South Carolina reports 124 new measles cases as outbreak grows
- CNN: US builds case to retain measles elimination status as infections mount
- Bloomberg: Measles Cases Hit 34-Year High as US Vaccines Norms Crumpled
- CNN: As a measles outbreak burns through South Carolina, not enough people are getting vaccinated
The GOP War on Vaccines Will Have Deadly Consequences:
- Stat: Kennedy adds two OB-GYNs to vaccine advisory panel amid review of shots for pregnant women
- Washington Post: New RFK Jr. pick for vaccine panel: ‘I was not anti-vaccine. I am now.’
- The Guardian: Health secretary RFK Jr appoints two vaccine skeptics to CDC advisory panel
- Stat: HHS dismisses member of vaccine injury advisory panel
- EndPoints: Exclusive: HHS ousts members of key advisory board for childhood vaccine injury program
- New York Times: Vaccine Schedule May Be Just a Step Toward Bigger Changes to Come
- Axios: RFK Jr. unleashed
- Stat (Jill Rosenthal): States no longer have to report Medicaid, CHIP vaccination rates to CMS, further undermining immunization
Changes to the Childhood Vaccine Schedule
- Associated Press: Doctors say changes to US vaccine recommendations are confusing parents and could harm kids
- New York Times: Trump Backs Kennedy’s Moves on New Childhood Vaccine Schedule
- Stat: When it comes to vaccine schedules, the U.S. is now the outlier
- The Bulwark (Andy Marso): My Life Shows the Horror of RFK Jr.’s New Vaccine Guidelines
- The End And What Came Next: A brief, shining time: One of my sons died of a disease that later became vaccine preventable. But now that and other vaccines have been struck from the recommended list for children.
Other Vaccine News
- Associated Press: Flu season surged in the US over the holiday and already rivals last winter’s harsh epidemic
- NPR: RFK Jr. cast doubt on a key vaccine. This country can’t wait to get it
- NOTUS: U.S.-Backed West African Vaccine Study Draws Scrutiny From WHO, UNICEF
Chaos at HHS:
- ArsTechnica: FDA deletes warning on bogus autism therapies touted by RFK Jr.‘s allies
- New York Times: Kennedy Weakens U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
- Stat: The NIH has lost its scientific integrity. So we left
- Axios: FDA chief’s bid to speed drug reviews hits turbulence
- Stat: Pazdur warns that politics, ‘chaos’ are damaging FDA
- Associated Press: Judge orders HHS to restore funding for children’s health programs as lawsuit continues
Funding Cuts
- New York Times: Congress Is Reversing Trump’s Steep Budget Cuts to Science
- Stat: Trump administration cuts up to $1.9 billion from mental health and addiction treatment programs
Health Equity:
- Associated Press: Trump officials bar Head Start providers from using ‘women’ and ‘race’ in grant applications
Food Guidelines
- Stat: Panel behind new dietary guidelines had financial ties to beef, dairy industries
- New York Times: Beef Tallow, Long a Health Pariah, Rises to the Top of the Food Pyramid
- Politico: Parents on RFK Jr.’s advice on sweets: ‘Completely unrealistic’
- Bloomberg: New Nutrition Guidelines Run Smack Into Tight School Meal Budgets
More Headlines We’re Watching:
- Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr.’s Rise Drives Democratic Doctors to Run for Congress
- New York Times: E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
- Politico: RFK Jr.’s fountain-of-youth moonshot
- Axios: Trump funding freeze could stretch child care to a breaking point
###