RFK Jr facing calls to be ‘fired immediately’ over rising measles cases across the US

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is facing calls to be fired over rising measles cases across the United States.

Over 1,700 measles cases have been reported in the U.S. this year, despite the disease being declared eliminated in the year 2000. ​Experts have pointed to falling vaccine rates as a possible reason for the increase in cases, with several U.S. health advocacy groups accusing Kennedy of undermining longstanding vaccine policies.​

​“RFK Jr. should be fired immediately,” Reverend Raphael Warnock, the junior senator for Georgia, wrote on X Monday.

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week, Warnock grilled Kennedy about his “draconian cuts” to the Health Department.

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“I think you’re dangerous to the American public,” Warnock said. “You ought to be fired. “And, if you’re not fired, you ought to have the decency to resign.”​

Around 1,792 measles cases have been reported this year, with 2,288 being recorded last year, according to the CDC.

An outbreak in South Carolina, which was the worst in the U.S. in 35 years, ended on Monday after 997 cases were recorded. ​Of those 997 cases, 932 patients were unvaccinated. ​

Kennedy told the Senate Finance Committee hearing that measles outbreaks across the country are not unique to the United States and are a global problem.​

“And we’ve done better under my leadership than any country in the world, limiting it,” Kennedy said.

​While cases continue to be recorded worldwide, experts have warned that the United States is teetering on the edge of losing its measles elimination status.

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“My best guess is we will lose elimination status,” Dr Andrew Pavia, a Utah physician and longtime CDC consultant, told The Associated Press.

“The case for this not being continuous transmission is tenuous, and I think they are likely to err on the side of declaring it a loss of elimination status.”​

During his tenure as HHS Secretary, Kennedy has slashed nearly $500 million in mRNA vaccine development, fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and tried to change recommendations for childhood vaccinations. ​

The American Academy of Pediatrics, among other medical groups, sued to stop the implementation of Kennedy’s new childhood vaccine schedule. In March, a federal judge reversed many of the changes to vaccine recommendations.​

The American Council on Science and Health claimed in a statement Monday that Kennedy was “trying to eviscerate U.S. vaccine policy.”

​Last year, the Center for American Progress accused the HHS Secretary of “endangering America’s vaccine system’s credibility” in a statement.

The Independent has contacted the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.

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