Blog Behind the Scenes RFK Jr. misled US Senate on measles deaths

Blog Behind the Scenes RFK Jr. misled US Senate on measles deaths

In a recent blog post, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that the United States government is lying about the number of people who died from measles complications in 2019.

Kennedy said he received documentation from California and New York indicating that at least six people had died from the disease as recently as last year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that no one has died from the virus since 2015, when there was one reported death. The number of measles cases in the country is at a 25-year high.

The California Department of Public Health told Kennedy's group, Children's Health Defense (CHD), that it did not have information on people who had died from complications related to measles. It also said there were no deaths associated with measles reported by local health departments between January 1 and December 31, 2019. A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health told CHD that they had no record of any measles-related deaths in recent years.

The CDC has reported that in California, there have been 400 cases of measles this year alone. The state with the second-highest number of cases is New York, which has seen over 300 since January.

In 2019, there were a total of 1,250 cases across the country. This is up from just 60 cases in 21 states reported by the CDC at the end of last year. Measles is highly contagious and can spread through coughing and sneezing or simply being in the same room as an infected person.

Symptoms include fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over your body. The virus can also cause diarrhea and ear infections. There are some rare complications linked to measles. They include blindness, severe diarrhea, encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and even death. Children under five years old and people with weakened immune systems have a higher risk of getting very sick from the virus.

The CDC recommends that children get two doses of MMR vaccine to protect against measles, mumps, and rubella. Adults born between 1957 and 1968 should also be vaccinated if they have not had the disease.

In response to Kennedy's claims, the CDC told CNN in a statement We are not aware of any measles-related deaths in the US since 2015, as reported by the CDC's National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The CDC continues to work closely with state and local partners to rapidly investigate all cases of measles, and to ensure that people who may have been exposed to the virus are promptly identified and vaccinated.

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