Tell the Media: Expose RFK Jr.’s Measles Failure

The United States is experiencing a major measles resurgence, with cases surging across multiple states and public health officials warning that decades of progress against a preventable disease are being reversed. This outbreak is not simply a public health story—it is a warning about the consequences of undermining trust in vaccines and weakening the institutions responsible for protecting public health. As Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now bears responsibility for leading the nation’s response.

Yet too much media coverage treats the outbreak as an unfortunate development rather than examining the policy failures and anti-vaccine rhetoric that helped create the conditions for it. When vaccination rates fall, misinformation spreads, and public health infrastructure is weakened, outbreaks become more likely. The public deserves clear reporting on how leadership decisions and public messaging contribute to these crises.

We call on the media to cover this outbreak as a major public health failure and scrutinize the role RFK Jr.’s policies and rhetoric have played in worsening vaccine skepticism. The public deserves reporting that follows the facts, identifies accountability, and explains how preventable diseases are making a dangerous comeback.