Lawmakers lashed out at Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after a bombshell Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. lost its measles-elimination status after 26 years, criticizing his leadership.
“This didn’t have to happen,” Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) wrote on X Saturday. “We have a safe, effective vaccine that has protected generations of Americans. We know how to prevent measles. Instead, President Trump put Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a notorious anti-vaxxer, in charge of our public health agencies.”
The U.S. was initially recognized to have eliminated the preventable disease in 2000. However, following multiple widespread cases across the U.S, sources told the Wall Street Journal that the Pan American Health Organization, an agency within the World Health Organization, had revoked the country’s elimination status.
A source close to the decision process also confirmed with CNN on Friday that the health organization revoked the U.S.’ measles elimination status. Researchers with direct knowledge of the decision also confirmed the status change to KFF Health News.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to HuffPost when asked for confirmation of the reported status change and comment.
However, CDC director Erica Schwartz told Reuters in an interview published on Tuesday that if the U.S. loses its measles elimination status, “we’re going to be doing the same exact thing that we’ve been doing today, which is working with the states.”
The Pan American Health Organization’s reported decision would also mean the U.S joins Canada, Spain and the UK in losing the status.
In the wake of the Journal’s report, several lawmakers and health professionals have come out to fully blast the health secretary, a longtime anti-vaccine activist who boasts about the Trump administration’s overhaul of public health.
One of those lawmakers was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who scolded RFK Jr. by calling the news “Shameful.”
Others chimed in criticizing the health secretary.
Source: www.huffpost.com
