{"id":851931,"date":"2026-09-18T08:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T08:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/851931\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T08:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T08:56:16","slug":"kennedy-tells-anti-vaccine-group-he-previously-led-that-hell-stay-in-this-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/851931\/","title":{"rendered":"Kennedy tells anti-vaccine group he previously led that he\u2019ll \u2018stay in this fight\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Amid the worst measles outbreak in the US in decades, a surge that\u2019s been driven largely by unvaccinated people<\/a>, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received a standing ovation Thursday at the conference of the anti-vaccine advocacy group Children\u2019s Health Defense, where he gave the keynote.\n <\/p>\n

\n It would\u2019ve been an unthinkable appearance for past health secretaries, and it was a striking moment for Kennedy, who was a founder of the organization but stepped away to run for the presidency.\n <\/p>\n

\n Kennedy\u2019s speech came between those of the president of the MAHA Institute, Mark Gordon, who called himself the \u201cboldest antivaxxer at an antivax conference,\u201d and Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist and filmmaker who authored a now-infamous 1998 study that linked<\/a> neurodevelopmental disorders in children, such as autism, with vaccination. Wakefield\u2019s original study was retracted in 2010, and he lost his license to practice.\n <\/p>\n

\n For nearly 40 minutes, Kennedy spoke about everything but vaccines: how the Trump administration is fighting chronic disease by limiting food dyes and access to ultraprocessed foods in government programs, emphasizing regenerative farming and even funding studies into health harms of electromagnetic fields and chemtrails \u2014 a line that drew applause.\n <\/p>\n

\n When the HHS secretary eventually turned his focus to vaccines, he praised President Donald Trump\u2019s embrace of vaccine skeptics, telling the conference attendees, \u201cyou have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cPresident Trump will not allow the government to treat parents who question vaccine orthodoxies as lepers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have not taken vaccines away from anyone. We have preserved access, but we have started asking the questions that you and millions of American parents have been asking for years.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kennedy, a lawyer who pledged at his confirmation hearing and on social media<\/a> that he would not restrict access to vaccines, spoke critically Thursday about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and vowed to fight for those who shared his views.\n <\/p>\n

\n Kennedy helped found Children\u2019s Health Defense and led its work to file dozens of lawsuits challenging state and federal vaccine policies and public health mandates, and championing \u201cmedical freedom\u201d bills while producing films that cast doubt on vaccine safety.\n <\/p>\n

\n The group offers baby onesies that say \u201cNo Vax No Problem\u201d<\/a> and \u201cUnvaxxed Unafraid\u201d<\/a> on its website, and at the conference, attendees could enter a contest to win a signed copy of Kennedy\u2019s book on the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, \u201cThe Real Anthony Fauci,\u201d or pick up a free copy of his book \u201cThe Wuhan Cover-Up.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n On Thursday, Kennedy labeled the federal government system through which adverse vaccine-related events are reported \u201cvery bad\u201d and said that it\u2019s likely that many many vaccine injuries are probably \u201cvery rare,\u201d but \u201cwe don\u2019t know, and anybody who tells you that is not talking about science.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn our country, we care about rare illnesses and deaths. We care about every child who dies from measles. They get headlines. We should care about the children \u2014 shouldn\u2019t we, I\u2019d ask you, care about children who are dying or suffering or being injured by vaccine injuries?\u201d Kennedy added. It was Kennedy\u2019s only mention of measles,<\/a> which was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 but has now surpassed 3,200 cases<\/a> in the US this year as vaccination rates have declined. There have been four measles-related deaths<\/a> in Pennsylvania this year, including two infants and an 18-year-old.\n <\/p>\n

\n Experts say vaccines are highly safe and effective, and vaccine injuries are extremely rare. A 2021 review<\/a> of 338 studies reported in 518 publications found that vaccines are \u201csafe across populations with serious adverse events being rare, consistent with other recent systematic reviews of vaccine safety.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n As HHS secretary, Kennedy has enacted some of the biggest changes to US vaccine policy in decades<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Last year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention narrowed its Covid-19 vaccine guidance, saying patients must consult a healthcare provider to get the vaccine.\n <\/p>\n

\n In October,<\/a> Kennedy created a working group<\/a> outside the traditional advisers to the CDC<\/a> to assess the safety, effectiveness and timing of vaccines for children and adolescents.\n <\/p>\n

\n Major medical groups have opposed<\/a> his initiative to remove vaccines for six of 17 diseases from the recommended childhood vaccine schedule without providing any medical evidence that such a move was necessary. A federal judge paused the changes in March after the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups filed a lawsuit.\n <\/p>\n

\n The judge also<\/a> ruled that Kennedy\u2019s move in June 2025 to replace the CDC\u2019s panel of independent vaccine advisers did not follow federal legal procedures.\n <\/p>\n

\n In the March ruling, US District Judge Brian E. Murphy wrote that \u201cof the fifteen members currently on ACIP, even under the most generous reading, only six appear to have any meaningful experience in vaccines.\u201d Many of Kennedy\u2019s handpicked replacements have published or publicly aired anti-vaccine views.\n <\/p>\n

\n HHS appealed the decision and has asked for an expedited review.\n <\/p>\n

\n In his speech Thursday, Kennedy urged Children\u2019s Health Defense members to have patience with the pace of change within the government.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe need to measure our success based upon what happens to our kids. That work is far from finished. We\u2019re going to continue to face resistance. Powerful institutions and entrenched interests do not surrender power easily,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cThey will fight change and the people who are demanding it. They will continue to sue us and try to slow us down. I spent 40 years in these battles. I didn\u2019t come to Washington to protect institutions from uncomfortable questions. I came to make those institutions answer those questions, and I intend to stay in this fight as long as I am able.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Kennedy claimed that his efforts will restore trust in public health agencies, build a health system that puts prevention at the center of health and end chronic disease.\n <\/p>\n

\n He recounted telling early Children\u2019s Health Defense members that he \u201cwould be in this fight and that I would die with my boots on.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I intend to do.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN\u2019s Izzy Lippolis contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid the worst measles outbreak in the US in decades, a surge that\u2019s been driven largely by unvaccinated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-851931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}