. It called the inclusion a “mistake.”

, and is the most common cause of death from measles in young children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a subsidiary of HHS.: Kennedy’s comments suggesting measles didn’t kill the child reflect longstanding tactics used to create doubt about vaccines, said Renee DiResta, a professor at Georgetown University who researches propaganda and has studied the anti-vaccine movement. She said Kennedy and Children’s Health Defense have spent years telling people that measles is a routine and harmless childhood illness to justify the argument that a safe vaccine is somehow more risky than the disease.

“Reframing these deaths as something other than what they are – deaths from measles, which is not harmless at all – is necessary to prop up the dual pillars of anti-vaccine propaganda in play here,” she said.It reflects a similar narrative that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people who wanted to minimize its seriousness suggested people were dying “with COVID” rather than from COVID, said Richard Carpiano, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Riverside, who has closely followed Kennedy’s anti-vaccine work. It’s a way of minimizing the deadly nature of measles.: Kennedy attended the funeral of the 8-year-old girl who died, then posted online about meeting with her family and the family of a 6-year-old girl who died in February. In one post about the trip, he wrote that “The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.” He also posted photos of himself with the families.

: Kennedy’s positive comments about the measles vaccine prompted some criticism from his old group Children’s Health Defense. CEO Mary Holland said in a video that Kennedy no longer speaks for the group, and said he had put out what she called “very partial information.” She claimed that a vaccination for measles had caused her son’s autism. But she went on to praise Kennedy’s actions.“People should not get lost in Bobby Kennedy saying that the vaccine can prevent measles,” Holland said, adding, “Bobby went to stand with the unvaccinated. And he has said it’s a personal choice.”

Children’s Health Defense and Bollinger have sued a number of news organizations, among them the AP, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.

between vaccines and autism. Vaccines have saved an estimated 154 million lives in the past 50 years, according to the World Health Organization, which says immunization has been the greatest contribution to ensuring babies live until their first birthday.People use plastic to cover a roof of a house damaged by a Russian strike in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, Ukraine, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People use plastic to cover a roof of a house damaged by a Russian strike in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, Ukraine, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)Ukrainian officials described it as the largest aerial assault since

A man stands on the rubble of a destroyed house where three children were killed by a Russian strike in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, Ukraine, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)A man stands on the rubble of a destroyed house where three children were killed by a Russian strike in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, Ukraine, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)