Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was criticized after he falsely claimed during a NewsNation town hall that the measles vaccine "contains a lot of aborted fetus debris and DNA particles," further promoting more anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.
Kennedy stated that the U.S. is managing its measles outbreak more effectively than other countries, noting that the number of cases has "plateaued."
He said:
“Now, there are populations in our country, like the Mennonites in Texas, who were most afflicted, and they have religious objections to vaccination, because the MMR vaccine contains a lot of aborted fetus debris and DNA particles, so they don’t want to take it."
"We ought to be taking care of those populations when they get sick."
You can hear his remarks in the video below.
Kennedy's statement is easily disproven.
Fetal cells are sometimes used in the development of certain vaccines because viruses require living cells to reproduce. Since viruses don’t grow in just any type of cell, researchers must identify which cells a virus will infect and replicate in, and human cells are often the most effective starting point.
Fetal cells, in particular, offer a key advantage: they are typically isolated from the sterile environment of the womb, reducing the risk of contamination from other viruses. This makes them especially useful for producing vaccines that are both safe and effective.
However, as the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia points out, "even though fetal cells are used to grow vaccine viruses, vaccines do not contain these cells or pieces of DNA that are recognizable as human DNA."
This is because "when viruses grow in cells, the cells are killed because in most cases the new viruses burst the cells to be released," "once the vaccine virus is grown, it is purified, so that cellular debris and growth reagents are removed," and "during this process of purification, any remaining cellular DNA is also broken down."
Vaccination remains the most effective tool to prevent the spread of measles. The two-dose measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is 97% effective at preventing infection, widely regarded as safe, and recommended for nearly everyone starting at 12 months of age.
Kennedy was swiftly called out.
Kennedy's words came as health officials confirmed that the measles outbreak in northwest Texas has grown to 683 cases.
Texas’ case count does not include related cases from the same outbreak reported in neighboring states. As of Friday, New Mexico had confirmed 67 cases and Oklahoma reported 15. Altogether, the outbreak has resulted in 765 reported cases across the three states.
Several weeks ago, just after Texas health officials confirmed the death of an unvaccinated child—the first U.S. death from the highly contagious but preventable disease since 2015—Kennedy said the outbreak is "not unusual," downplaying the worsening health crisis.
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