RFK Jr. Falsely Claims Measles Vaccine Contains ‘Fetus Debris,’ Asks CDC for New Treatment

Health experts have slammed Kennedy’s “misleading” remarks and spreading of misinformation

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doubling down on his false claims about the MMR vaccine — which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella.  

On Wednesday, April 30, the secretary of health and human services (HSS) made a television appearance and incorrectly asserted that the vaccine contains “aborted fetus debris.”

The comment was made while discussing the ongoing measles outbreak, which has reached 935 cases, spread to 30 states and resulted in three deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“There are populations in our country like the Mennonites in Texas who are most afflicted, and they have religious objections to the vaccination because the MMR vaccine contains a lot of aborted fetus debris and DNA particles. So they don’t want to take it,” Kennedy told Chris Cuomo during a NewsNation town hall. “So we ought to be able to take care of those populations when they get sick and that’s one of the things that the CDC has not done.”

Related: RFK Jr. Promotes Vitamin A, Vaccine ‘Freedom of Choice’ amid ‘Rapidly’ Expanding Measles Outbreak

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Countless health experts have since slammed Kennedy’s remarks and spreading of misinformation.

“The claim that the MMR vaccine contains ‘fetal debris’ is not only scientifically inaccurate, it’s dangerously misleading,” Dr. Tyler Evans, former chief medical officer for New York City, told The Independent. “The rubella component of the MMR vaccine was developed decades ago using a well-established human cell line, replicated countless times. There is no actual fetal tissue in the vaccine. It’s time we stop politicizing science and return to evidence-based public health, because mistrust fueled by misinformation puts our most vulnerable communities at risk.”

“It is not true that the vaccines have fetal elements, debris, cells in them,” Dr. Shira Doron, chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, told Health. “But what is true is that the viruses that need to be grown to create vaccines are grown in cells. In some cases, human cells.”

Doron added that among all vaccines, “MMR vaccine is by far among the safest” because it has been used and studied “extensively.”

Related: RFK Jr. Calls Measles Outbreak ‘Top Priority’, Says Vaccines ‘Protect Children’

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Additionally, Kennedy is asking the CDC to develop new guidance for treating measles with medications and alternative therapies like vitamins, according to the HHS.

“Secretary Kennedy will be enlisting the entire agency to activate a scientific process to treat a host of diseases, including measles, with single or multiple existing drugs in combination with vitamins and other modalities,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement, CNN reports. “This effort will involve collaboration with universities nationwide to develop protocols, conduct testing, and pursue approval for new uses of safe and effective therapeutics that meet the highest scientific standards.”

The HHS recognized in its statement that some Americans “may choose not to vaccinate.” However, the CDC maintains that the best way to protect against measles is to get the MMR vaccine.

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