A rapidly growing measles outbreak that began in Texas has now infected over 1,000 people across 11 states, with three confirmed deaths—two children and one adult—and dozens more hospitalized. Public health experts attribute the surge to declining vaccination rates, a trend many blame on misinformation about vaccine safety.
Amid the crisis, Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) introduced a Senate resolution on Monday declaring she has “no confidence” in Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and urging his resignation. The move follows Kennedy’s repeated public claims undermining vaccine efficacy, despite overwhelming scientific consensus to the contrary.
Senator Alsobrooks led a rally outside the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over the weekend, where hundreds gathered — many of them former NIH employees recently laid off under the Trump administration’s sweeping budget cuts.
“Since Donald Trump took office, 1,300 NIH workers have been fired and over $2 billion in research grants slashed,” Alsobrooks said. “Now he wants to cut NIH by another 40%. And these attacks on science are being carried out under the reckless leadership of RFK Jr.”
Further raising eyebrows, RFK Jr. sparked controversy on Sunday after revealing he had gone swimming with his grandchildren in Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek — a waterway long deemed hazardous due to high bacteria levels and repeated public health warnings advising against such activity.
As the outbreak worsens and scrutiny intensifies, lawmakers and health officials continue to question Kennedy’s leadership and its broader implications for public health infrastructure and trust in science.
