As a measles outbreak expands across the US, comments by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr have come under scrutiny. Kennedy has said that the best way to prevent measles is to get vaccinated – but he has also caused alarm among paediatricians, vaccine experts and lawmakers by promoting vitamin A and nutrition as treatments for measles and questioning the safety testing of the MMR vaccine. He also recently announced a US-led scientific effort to establish the cause of what he terms the ‘autism epidemic’, with some experts concerned that this study will support the widely discredited association between autism and vaccines. US health reporter Jessica Glenza tells Ian Sample, the Guardian’s science editor, how these mixed messages are already impacting scientific research.
RFK Jr says his response to measles outbreak should be ‘model for the world’
RFK Jr contradicts experts by linking autism rise to ‘environmental toxins’
About Author
More Stories
Fossils found in 1970s are most recent ancestor of tyrannosaurs, scientists say
Aidan Jones: the 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)
Sun’s south pole revealed for first time, in images from Solar Orbiter spacecraft