Reporter Has Blunt Response After RFK Jr.'s Aide Attempts To Block Question About Measles Deaths

With the midterms approaching, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans in Virginia Beach to discuss healthcare. But when a reporter asked about measles deaths, a staffer apparently decided the nation's top health official had reached the limits of his job description.

The exchange unfolded at Tidewater Community College, where Kennedy and Kiggans met with medical professionals to discuss staffing shortages and access to care.

Then came a question that quickly changed the tone of the conversation:

“Do you believe that 5 deaths, potentially 6 from measles in Pennsylvania—”

Before the reporter could finish the “nia” in Pennsylvania, a Kennedy aide jumped in with a hard no. Apparently, the question had exceeded its allotted airtime.

The currently unnamed reporter wasn't finished—and neither was the exchange:

“He's the highest-ranking health official in the country; he can answer that question. He's a Cabinet Secretary.”

And Kennedy might want to hold on to that Cabinet title, because his reviews aren't exactly five-star. An Annenberg survey found that 42% viewed him very unfavorably, compared with 23% who viewed him favorably. That's the kind of performance review that makes you wish the meeting had been canceled.

Watch the confrontation unfold in the viral video:

You'd think a health secretary with those numbers might welcome an opportunity to clear things up. Kennedy eventually answered, making his complicated relationship with vaccines even more interesting.

The secretary offered his explanation for what was fueling the measles resurgence:

“We've done better. We're having a global measles outbreak right now. It's all over the world, and the measles outbreak is occurring because so many people went unvaccinated during the COVID pandemic.”

For a moment, Kennedy sounded like the experts who've spent years urging Americans to get vaccinated. Unfortunately, his own record hasn't made that message easy to follow.

Kennedy has acknowledged that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)vaccine is 97% effective while raising doubts about vaccine safety and promoting alternative treatments. Another Annenberg survey found that only 31% of Americans knew he recommended the measles vaccine. Apparently, even public health guidance needs a publicist.

Then came Pennsylvania, where Kennedy had a different diagnosis—politics:

“They were politicizing the outbreak there. They didn't want our aid. They told us that they didn't want help from the Trump administration.”

The dispute, however, is more complicated than Kennedy's accusation suggests. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has challenged the secretary's rhetoric, while state and federal officials have disagreed over how to classify reported measles deaths.

Pennsylvania distinguishes deaths directly caused by measles from measles-associated deaths, where infection was present but not necessarily the direct cause. Kennedy previously suggested some reported deaths were fabricated, an allegation disputed by state officials.

The full Virginia Beach exchange can be viewed here:

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While Kennedy was pointing fingers at Pennsylvania, Virginia had dealt with an outbreak of its own. Buckingham and Cumberland counties recorded 154 cases before the outbreak ended in August, with another case reported in Harrisonburg in October.

That brings us back to Kiggans, a nurse practitioner and Navy veteran facing former Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria, who led her 46% to 43% in a Christopher Newport University poll—and by 15 points on healthcare trust. Suddenly, Kennedy's conveniently timed healthcare visit looks a little less coincidental.

Just like the journalist, the internet had some follow-up questions:

By mid-October, more than 4,400 measles cases had been reported across 45 jurisdictions, with hundreds hospitalized. Roughly 96% involved people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.

The administration has pointed to $100 million in response funding, but public health experts warn that mixed messages make outbreaks harder to contain.

Public health official Adriane Casalotti explained what that means for local health departments:

“When there are mixed messages coming at any of the levels of governmental public health, it makes it a lot harder for the local health departments to do their job.”

So the country has a measles outbreak, a vaccine that works, and health departments trying to keep up. And if Kennedy was hoping to give Kiggans a boost on healthcare, turning a measles question into a national news clip was certainly an ambitious strategy.