Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confronting his first disease outbreak as Health and Human Services secretary. His response to the spread of measles in and beyond Texas has managed to alarm serious scientists while also drawing criticism from his Make America Healthy Again movement.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a stop in Texas on Sunday and visited the family of a 6-year-old girl who died of the measles virus in February.

Kennedy confirmed the visit to Texas in a post on X in which he encouraged people to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine amid rising measles cases.

An endorsement of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has provoked an angry outcry from anti-vaccine activists.

Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration, wrote in a letter on Friday that he was resigning from his position and criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned the effectiveness of vaccines for years and promoted debunked claims that certain vaccines are linked to autism.

A large study into the potential connections between vaccines and autism is reportedly being planned by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to reports Friday.

It's not clear if Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is involved in the study or how the plans would be implemented.

The CDC and Kennedy's department have not commented about the reporting, released by Reuters, which quoted two sources said to be familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump, in his address to Congress Tuesday...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is moving forward with a study examining potential connections between vaccines and autism, according to multiple reports.

Newsweek reached out to the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services for comment on Friday.

The announcement has raised questions, given the extensive scientific research that has consistently found no link between vaccines and autism. Yet, despite overwhelming evidence debunking the claim, skepticism persists, fueled in part by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr...

Decades of scientific evidence haven’t found a link between autism and vaccines, but that doesn’t appear to stop the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from reportedly planning to study the issue.

The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) upcoming Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting on March 13 was abruptly canceled via email on Wednesday. The committee was to consider the selection of strains to be included in the influenza virus vaccines for the 2025–2026 flu season. This is the second vaccine-related advisory meeting canceled since Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. took over at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In less than three weeks, a measles outbreak has jumped from two cases among unvaccinated children in West Texas to 48. Three cases have also been found in a neighboring county in New Mexico. Thus far, 13 children have been hospitalized. Vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles remain a public health threat. And with childhood vaccine hesitancy—or simply outright refusal—on the rise, the problem is likely to worsen.

Measles cases in Texas have nearly doubled in the past two weeks, making it the worst outbreak the state has seen in three decades. Now, cases are spreading into neighboring New Mexico.

Texas has reported 58 measles cases so far, and 13 of the patients have been hospitalized.

The epicenter is in Gaines County, Texas, a rural area in the South Plains region where nearly one in five children are unvaccinated. The county is home to a large Mennonite community, and members often apply for exemptions to school vaccine mandates for religious reasons.