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RFK Jr. goes full anti-vaccine bananas over two measles deaths—one was a newborn

Kennedy and his allies have a history of downplaying vaccine-preventable deaths.

RFK Jr. goes full anti-vaccine bananas over two measles deaths—one was a newborn

On Tuesday, the tragic deaths of two individuals in Pennsylvania from measles were announced, prompting Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to flood social media with anti-vaccine rhetoric and misinformation. This resurgence of his past opposition to immunizations marked a concerning turn of events. The fatalities are the first measles-linked deaths in Pennsylvania in 35 years and the first reported in the US in 2026.

The outbreak in Pennsylvania has reached nearly 400 confirmed cases, contributing to a nationwide surge of nearly 2,800 cases this year, the highest total since 1991. Health officials initially withheld details about the victims, only stating they were unvaccinated individuals from Lancaster County. However, it was soon revealed that one of the deaths was a newborn baby, which Kennedy immediately leveraged in his anti-vaccine narrative.

Written by urgent.news from Ars Technica's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

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