Robert F. Kennedy Jr Downplays Measles Vaccine as Cases Surge (March 17, 2025)
www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com

... A growing measles outbreak has led to 222 reported cases across Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma in 2025, with health officials urging more people to get vaccinated.

During an interview with Fox News, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. encouraged vaccination but also made misleading statements about vaccine-induced immunity, CNN reported.

"When you and I were kids, everybody got measles, and measles gave you ... lifetime protection against measles infection. The vaccine doesn't do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but for many people, it wanes," Kennedy said in the interview.

Dr. Paul Offit -- director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who recently spoke with HealthDay about COVID -- said that if vaccine-induced immunity waned significantly, measles would not have been declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. ...

Measles arrives in Kansas, spreads quickly in undervaccinated counties
arstechnica.com

... Measles has arrived in Kansas and is spreading swiftly in communities with very low vaccination rates. Since last week, the state has tallied 10 cases across three counties with more pending.

On March 13, health officials announced the state's first measles case since 2018. The case was reported in Stevens County, which sits in the southwest corner of the state. As of now, it's unclear if the case is connected to the mushrooming outbreak that began in West Texas.

That initial case in Kansas already shows potential to mushroom on its own. Stevens County contains two school districts, both of which have extremely low vaccination rates among kindergartners. By the time children enter kindergarten, they should have their two doses of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, which together are 97 percent effective against measles. In the 2023"2024 school year, rates of kindergartners with their two shots stood at 83 percent in the Hugoton school district and 80 percent in the Moscow school district, according to state data. Those rates are significantly below the 95 percent threshold needed to block the onward community spread of measles -- one of the most infectious viruses known to humankind. ...