Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posts endorsement of measles MMR vaccine on X
Health and Human Services secretary, and vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supports measles vaccine after visiting West Texas.
WASHINGTON- Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday touted Utah’s recent ban on fluoride in public drinking water and praised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its handling of the measles outbreak.
During a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, Kennedy quoted a National Toxicology Program study from 2024, which linked high levels of fluoride with lower IQs in children.
The study “shows a direct inverse correlation between exposure to fluoride and IQ loss, particularly in children,” he said, adding that he was working with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to “reassess the fluoride rules.”
On Monday, Kennedy praised Utah for becoming the first state to prohibit local governments from adding fluoride to public water systems. Kennedy subsequently told the Associated Press that he will tell the CDC to stop recommending cities and states put fluoride in water to improve dental health.
The use of fluoride in the U.S. has been a successful public health initiative for reducing dental cavities and improving general oral health since 1945, according to the National Institutes of Health. Still, the agency acknowledged that there have been concerns that pregnant women and children may be exceeding safe levels of fluoride intake from a variety of sources including “treated public water, water-added foods and beverages, teas, toothpaste, floss, and mouthwash.”
Kennedy has endorsed claims that fluoride is behind a host of health conditions, from ADHD and hypothyroidism to lowering IQ. Dentists and epidemiologists have hit back at those accusations as scientifically unproven, and have warned that removing fluoride from water systems could take a serious toll on public health.
“When government officials, like Secretary Kennedy, stand behind the commentary of misinformation and distrust peer-reviewed research it is injurious to public health,” said Brett Kessler, president of the American Dental Association in a statement on Monday.
Praise for CDC amid measles outbreak
Kennedy, who is widely known as a vaccine skeptic, proceeded on Thursday to compliment the CDC, which he oversees, for its handling of the measles outbreak, which killed two unvaccinated children in Texas. The CDC said the deaths were the first from measles in the U.S. since 2015.
Earlier this week, Kennedy for the first time encouraged people to get the measles vaccine, five weeks after the death of the first child on Feb. 26. Though Kennedy had said in a post on X that the MMR vaccine was “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles,” he hadn’t categorically encouraged people to get the vaccine.
“The CDC has done an amazing job at getting the measles outbreak under control,” he said. “We have about 680 cases now in 22 states, compared to the same outbreak in Europe, which is 127,000 cases and 37 deaths.”
The case of an unvaccinated New Mexico man who tested positive for measles after he died in March is under investigation, according to state health officials.
Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal