GOING VIRAL

RFK Jr.’s Wish Is Coming True: Everybody’s Getting Measles

The number of measles cases in the U.S. has risen to 884 across 29 states.

RFK Jr.’s vision for America is rapidly becoming reality, with the number of measles cases skyrocketing across the country, bringing the number of confirmed cases to a total of 884.

According to data published by the CDC on Friday, there have been 884 cases of measles reported across 29 states, including Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, New York and Texas.

GOING VIRAL

RFK Jr.: It Would Be Better if ‘Everybody Got Measles’

Leigh Kimmins

Just last month, the Health and Human Services Secretary appeared to argue in an interview with Sean Hannity that natural immunity was the best defense against the highly infectious disease. In other words, Kennedy believes that it would be great if everyone got measles.

“It used to be, when I [was] a kid, that everybody got measles,” he told the Fox News host. “And the measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection.”

He continued, “The vaccine doesn’t do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but for many people it wanes.” He went on to argue against the MMR vaccine, telling Hannity that the government shouldn’t force people to get the vaccine, because, “There are adverse events from the vaccine. It does cause deaths every year. It causes all the illnesses that measles itself cause, like encephalitis and blindness, etc., so people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves.”

Research shows that for more than 99 percent of the population, getting the MMR vaccine is much safer than getting measles, mumps, or rubella.

In 2025 alone, measles cases have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

TRAGEDY

RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vax Campaign Claims Another Child in Texas

Will Neal

At least six of those states—Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas—have reported outbreaks, meaning three or more related cases. Texas, the epicenter of the outbreak, has reported 646 cases since late January.

There have been three confirmed deaths, two of whom were children: 8-year-old Daisy Hildebrand and 6-year-old Kayley Fehr. These are the first deaths from measles in the U.S. in more than a decade. The majority of cases have occurred in individuals under the age of 20.

Stanford University researchers have predicted that if vaccination rates remain steady, measles could become entrenched, resulting in hundreds of thousands of cases “where deaths are commonplace and hospitalizations are happening all the time,” according to Nathan Lo, a Stanford University physician and author of the study.

Only 2 percent of the 884 people infected in 2025 have received the recommended dose of the MMR vaccine.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Catherine BourisReporter

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