U.S. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has defended his record on the country's record-setting measles outbreak, saying he is not to blame, according to a report by Eyewitness News. His remarks came as the outbreak climbed to its highest level in decades.
Just last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 2,300 measles cases, a new high since 1991, according to the report. The figure marks a sharp resurgence of a disease that had long been considered under control in the United States.
The outbreak is hitting 43 states, according to Eyewitness News. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are among them, with each reporting a limited number of cases.
Kennedy said the problem is confined mostly to religious communities that do not vaccinate against the illness. He framed the spread as concentrated within specific groups rather than the general population.
Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, advocated for parents to get their children vaccinated against measles, according to the report. The appeal came as he sought to counter criticism of his handling of the outbreak.
In a fiery CNN interview, Kennedy shifted blame for the outbreak onto the COVID pandemic. He argued that the roots of the current surge lay in what happened during that period rather than in his own tenure.
"Anthony Fauci in his diaries answers the question about why we're having a measles outbreak right now," Kennedy said. "The reason we're having a measles outbreak is because of the COVID lockdowns. In that period, they did not get vaccinated."