{"id":472079,"date":"2026-10-20T23:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T23:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/472079\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T23:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T23:30:10","slug":"robert-f-kennedy-jr-visits-jps-hospital-in-fort-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/472079\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. visits JPS Hospital in Fort Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was in Fort Worth on Tuesday to announce a new national kidney care plan<\/a> at JPS Health Network, Tarrant County\u2019s public hospital system.<\/p>\n

Kennedy launched the national plan with a focus on three priorities: preventing kidney failure, improving dialysis care, and reforming kidney transplantation.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The) organ transplant program had a monopoly that ended up corrupting the system,\u201d Kennedy said at JPS on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Health Resources and Services Administration Administrator Tom Engels said the new plan was focused on ensuring that there was no corruption in the dialysis and transplant systems and stopping monopolies in those systems.<\/p>\n

\"U.S. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., second from left, speaks with Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Abe Sutton during a press conference at JPS Health Network in Fort Worth on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. Also present was Health Resources and Services Administration Administrator Tom Engels and President and CEO of JPS Health Network Dr. Karen Duncan. Amanda McCoy FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM <\/p>\n

Rates of chronic kidney disease have been increasing in the U.S. and across the globe in recent decades, as risk factors like diabetes and high blood pressure have also increased. Chronic kidney disease was the ninth leading cause of death worldwide in 2023<\/a>, up from the 27th leading cause in 1990, according to a study published in The Lancet last year<\/a>. Kidney disease was the 10th leading cause of death<\/a> in Tarrant County in 2023.<\/p>\n

Kennedy has gained popularity as a leader of the Make America Healthy Again movement, and has identified Americans\u2019 high rate of chronic diseases as a target for his administration. But Kennedy\u2019s work as an anti-vaccine activist has also made him a controversial figure among doctors and other public health experts. Before he became secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy founded the Children\u2019s Health Defense<\/a>, an anti-vaccine group that has long tied routine shots to an increased risk of autism, a theory that numerous studies have debunked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There have been multiple measles outbreaks in the last two years, including one in West Texas that infected 762 people and killed two children<\/a>. So far this year, there have been more than 4,000 cases of measles<\/a> reported in the U.S., the most since 1991, and six deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Tarrant County, the vaccination rate for the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine has dropped in the last year, from almost 94% of kindergartners vaccinated to almost 93% vaccinated<\/a>. At the same time, conscientious exemptions to the shot increased from 5.3% to 6.8%, according to state data<\/a>. Vaccine experts worry<\/a> that the decline in coverage is linked to skepticism about vaccines from Kennedy and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want parents to vaccinate,\u201d Kennedy said in response to a question Tuesday. \u201cUnfortunately, during COVID, because of the overreach during COVID, because of the dishonesty by my department, a lot of Americans lost faith in vaccination, and we are trying to rebuild that by being honest with the American people, by making people know that we\u2019re trustworthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"U.S. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks during a press conference at JPS Health Network in Fort Worth on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. Kennedy was in Texas to announce the 2026 National Kidney Plan. Amanda McCoy FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM <\/p>\n

Under Kennedy\u2019s leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services has started multiple studies<\/a> looking at possible connections between vaccines and other health problems. Kennedy recently held a ribbon cutting for a new clinic to study vaccine injuries.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published October 20, 2026 at 1:46 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Ciara McCarthy<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Ciara McCarthy covers health and wellness as part of the Star-Telegram\u2019s Crossroads Lab. She came to Fort Worth after three years in Victoria, Texas, where she worked at the Victoria Advocate. Ciara is focused on equipping people and communities with information they need to make decisions about their lives and well-being. Please reach out with your questions about public health or the health care system. Email cmccarthy@star-telegram.com or call or text 817-203-4391.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was in Fort Worth on Tuesday to announce a new national…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-472079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}