Measles cases are at their highest rate in the US in decades. Robert F Kennedy doesn’t seem too bothered

Do you enjoy getting sick from preventable diseases? Do you have a hankering to make once-declining viruses great again? If so, why not pop over to the US where the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, and his anti-vaccine cronies are making a valiant effort to overturn decades of progress in modern medicine?

Let’s start with measles cases, which are at their highest rate in 33 years in the US. The blame for this doesn’t rest entirely with the Trump administration, of course, but officials certainly don’t seem too bothered by it all. RFK Jr has downplayed the number of deaths that have occurred from measles and complained about all the headlines they’re generating.

Like the rest of his peers in the Trump administration, RFK Jr seems to have absolutely no idea what he is doing, and appears to be just making things up as he goes along. Indeed, the health secretary memorably told Congress in mid-May that he doesn’t really think people should be taking medical advice from him. He seems to have forgotten that statement the moment the words left his mouth, however. Not even a couple of weeks later Kennedy announced that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would stop recommending Covid-19 booster shots for healthy children and pregnant women. This was a highly unusual move, as the health secretary doesn’t normally make unilateral changes to vaccine recommendations like this.

While Kennedy seems to govern by vibes, actual medical experts, who rely on things like evidence and data, are deeply alarmed by the removal of the shots from officials’ recommended immunization schedule.

“[D]espite the change in recommendations from [health and human services], the science has not changed,” the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) said in a statement. “It is very clear that Covid-19 infection during pregnancy can be catastrophic and lead to major disability, and it can cause devastating consequences for families.”

Kennedy’s decision is now facing legal opposition. In the same week that the US reached its dark measles milestone, a number of leading medical associations sued the Trump administration. “This administration is an existential threat to vaccination in America, and those in charge are only just getting started,” said the lead counsel for the plaintiffs in a statement.

Restoring trust in public health agencies and vaccines, especially among pregnant women, will take far more than a lawsuit. Two new surveys, published as a research letter in Jama Network Open, have found that only 35% to 40% of US pregnant women and parents of young children say they intend to fully vaccinate their child. To reiterate: we are now at a place where a majority of pregnant women and parents don’t plan to accept all recommended kids’ vaccines.

“Given the high decisional uncertainty during pregnancy about vaccinating children after birth, there may be value in intervening during pregnancy to proactively support families with childhood vaccination decisions,” the researchers wrote. Unfortunately, under this administration, that’s a lot easier said than done.