Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. on Monday had a wide-ranging interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that discussed measles and vaccinations — and it needs a fact-check.
"It used to be when you and I were kids, everybody got measles, and measles gave you protection — lifetime protection — against measles infection," Kennedy told Hannity. "The vaccine doesn't do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but [for] many people, it wanes."
However, many health experts agree that for most people, the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine confers lifetime immunity, per CNN. According to Johns Hopkins' Public School of Health, there is no evidence that protection from the vaccination "is lost with age."
"There are many studies, some showing 87% of effectiveness of vitamin A to help against serious disease and death," RFK Jr. added.
Johns Hopkins' Public School of Health noted that Vitamin A "does not prevent measles infection like the vaccine does." Vitamin A is given to children to prevent complications, but high doses of vitamin A can be toxic.
Many studies have seen vitamin A impact populations with malnutrition or vitamin A deficiency, which is not common in the U.S. Therefore, it's unclear to what extent treatment with vitamin A plays a palliative role in combatting measles. RFK Jr.'s embrace of vitamin A over definitively pushing vaccines could feed into misinformation online that claims vitamin A can prevent measles.
Additionally, RFK Jr. had something to say about his boss President Donald Trump:
"I think he's lost 30 pounds," RFK Jr. remarked about Trump's apparent weight loss. "Even with all the — can I say crap? — that he eats."
That's a claim that The Recount just can't fact-check.
