MUM’S THE WORD

Father of Measles-Stricken Child Reveals What RFK Jr. Told Him

The health secretary was in Texas over the weekend for the funeral of an 8-year-old girl who died of measles.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stayed mum on a touchy topic during a dinner with the dad of an 8-year-old girl who died of measles, the man said.

The health secretary “never said anything” about the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine when he paid his respects to the family of Daisy Hildebrand, who died last week of measles pulmonary failure amid an outbreak of the disease in Texas, according to The Guardian.

“He did not say that the vaccine was effective,” Pete Hildebrand, Daisy’s father, told the publication Monday. “I had supper with the guy… and he never said anything about that.”

Hildebrand’s comments came after Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, endorsed the MMR shot as “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.”

Hildebrand, who is also anti-vaccine, stood by his beliefs in his interview with The Guardian.

“I know it’s not effective because some family members ended up getting the vaccine, and they got the measles way worse than some of my kids,” he said. “The vaccine was not effective.”

Kennedy was in Texas over the weekend to meet with the families of Daisy and Kayley Fehr, a 6-year-old who became the U.S.’ first measles death in a decade when she succumbed to the disease in February.

“My intention was to come down here quietly to console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief,” Kennedy said. “I am also here to support Texas health officials and to learn how our HHS agencies can better partner with them to control the measles outbreak.”

The health secretary said that as of Sunday, there were 642 confirmed measles cases across 22 states, 499 of which were in Texas.

The three deaths from the fresh measles outbreak—Daisy, Kayley, and an adult in Lea County, New Mexico—were all unvaccinated. The U.S. declared the elimination of the highly contagious disease in 2000, but it has recently begun spreading through under-vaccinated communities.

Though Kennedy backed the MMR shot after his Texas visit, he also touted the work of two controversial “healers” who he claimed “have treated and healed some 300 measles-stricken Mennonite children” using unconventional therapies, such as Vitamin A and cod liver oil.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Julia OrnedoReporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.