Sánchez grills Health Secretary Kennedy on spike in measles cases, anti-vaccine rhetoric

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez (D-Calif.) during a Ways and Means Committee hearing today questioned Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the dramatic rise in U.S. measles cases after the Trump administration cut public health messaging campaigns promoting vaccinations.

In response to her question, Secretary Kennedy refused to answer whether President Trump authorized cutting the pro-vaccination campaigns.

“I think you don’t want to answer the question, because I think you know these are terrible, terrible decisions that impact very, very real lives, especially the lives of children,” said Congresswoman Sanchez in response. “Now, one thing that I find incredible is that you suspended this pro-vaccine messaging campaign, but somehow you’re spending taxpayer dollars to drink milk shirtless in a hot tub with Kid Rock, and somehow you think that’s a better public health message than informing the public about the importance of vaccines.”

Under Secretary Kennedy, measle cases in the United States spiked from 285 cases in 2024 to 2,286 in the first year of the Trump administration, a record high since the development of the lifesaving measles vaccine. This year, the United States is on track to shatter that record with 1,671 cases already reported in the first 3.5 months.

Video of the full exchange is available HERE and the text follows:

Sánchez: Thank you, Secretary Kennedy. We appreciate your appearance here today. To win the support of skeptical senators during your confirmation hearings, you claimed, and I’m quoting here, “I support vaccines. I support the childhood vaccine schedule.” I was skeptical about those comments, because prior to your nomination, you espoused numerous disproven theories that childhood vaccines, including the measles vaccines, were linked to autism, death, and other adverse effects. Not surprisingly, we were right to be skeptical of your promise to support the childhood vaccine schedule, because at your direction, the CDC removed its universal vaccine recommendations for children, covering seven immunizations, including things like flu, covid, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and rotavirus. On Fox News last year, you stated, and I’m quoting you again here, “There are adverse effects from the vaccine. It does cause deaths every year. It causes all the illnesses that measles itself causes.” A deadly measles outbreak in Texas killed an unvaccinated six-year-old, the first such death in a decade. So, simple yes or no question. It’s not that we don’t want to let you answer, it’s that we all have limited time, and you have plenty of time to answer questions, and you had plenty of time to give testimony at the beginning. So a simple yes or no answer will do here. Do you agree with the majority of doctors that the measles vaccine could have saved that child’s life in Texas?

Kennedy: It’s possible. Certainly.

Sánchez: Okay. Thank you. I want to look at some very important data. In 2024, under the Biden administration, which apparently seems to be responsible for every ill in the world, in 2024 under the Biden administration, there were 285 cases of measles. And in 2025, under your leadership at HHS, it ballooned to over 2,000. That’s a 675 percent increase. And we are now on track to surpass that this year, with over 1,600 confirmed cases in just three and a half months. If we project those numbers out for all of 2026, we can expect a whopping 6,400 cases of measles. That’s a 2,380 percent increase in a preventable disease. CDC data also shows that about 80 percent of children who died from flu this season were not vaccinated. The anti-vaccine rhetoric you ran on and the anti-vaccine actions you have taken over the last year clearly correlates with the dramatic increases, again, in preventable diseases. As a mother, this horrifies me. Stopping the spread of communicable diseases is one of HHS’s primary responsibilities, and a strong public health messaging campaign on the importance of vaccines could have stopped this surge of measles cases, as it had in past outbreaks. But I was appalled to learn that the CDC suspended public health messaging on vaccines last February. It ended a successful flu vaccine campaign as well. My question is, did President Trump approve your decision to end the CDC pro-vaccine public messaging campaign?

Kennedy: You got a lot of misinformation there. First of all…

Sánchez: No, I’m asking you a question. I’d appreciate a response to the question.

Kennedy: ...to the misstatements that you’ve made.

Sánchez: No, you have other opportunities. I have limited time. I only have your answer.

Kennedy: You are my only opportunity. I have to respond…

Sánchez: Did President Trump approve your decision to end the CDC pro-vaccine public messaging campaign?

Kennedy: Let me, allow me to answer to respond to a lot of the misinformation.

Sánchez: No, answer my question. Please, sir. I have limited time.

Kennedy: There’s a global measles epidemic. We’ve done better than any country in the world.

Sánchez: There is no country that has seen a bigger percentage increase.

Kennedy: That’s not true. Mexico has three times our measles and one-eighth of our population.

Sánchez: Did President Trump approve your decision to end the CDC pro-vaccine public messaging campaign?

Kennedy: Canada has double the measles and they have one-eighth of our population.

Sánchez: Was that a decision that was made by Trump? Did he approve that?

Kennedy: We’ve done better preventing measles than any country in the world.

Sánchez: Did President Trump approve your decision to end the CDC pro-vaccine public messaging campaign?

Kennedy: We’ve done better at preventing…

Sánchez: That’s not answering my question, and I think you don’t want to answer the question, because I think you know these are terrible, terrible decisions that impact very, very real lives, especially the lives of children. Now, one thing that I find incredible is that you suspended this pro-vaccine messaging campaign, but somehow you’re spending taxpayer dollars to drink milk shirtless in a hot tub with Kid Rock, and somehow you think that’s a better public health message than informing the public about the importance of vaccines, really?

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