RFK Jr. Says US Not Declaring Emergency Over Measles

Sen. Chuck Schumer recently called on the health secretary to declare a measles emergency.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a press conference in Washington on July 14, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on July 14 that the United States is dealing well with measles and that he does not plan on declaring a public health emergency for the disease.

“In the individual states, if there are issues, we are there for them, but we don’t at this point consider it a national emergency,” Kennedy told reporters at an unrelated event in Washington when asked whether he planned to declare an emergency.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently urged Kennedy to declare a public health emergency for measles, after the number of cases in 2025 reached an annual peak not recorded since 1992, before the disease was declared eliminated from the United States.

“To prevent this historic record high spread from reaching further and to save lives, you should immediately declare a Public Health Emergency for measles,” Schumer wrote in a missive to Kennedy.

The Democratic senator said that declaring an emergency would enable the dedication of more federal resources to improve what he described as an inadequate public health response.

Schumer blamed Kennedy, who has endorsed the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, for promoting vitamin A as a measles treatment and ousting a panel of scientists who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines. Schumer also noted that grants from the National Institutes of Health for research into vaccine hesitancy were recently canceled.

“You have an opportunity to protect the health of millions of Americans by demonstrating support for vaccination and a robust measles response,” Schumer said. “Otherwise, Americans will die from diseases for which there are safe and effective solutions we are choosing not to use.”

An immunization schedule developed by the panel of scientists recommends that children receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, with the first coming as early as 12 months of age. Two doses of the vaccine are estimated to be 97 percent effective against measles, with one dose having an estimated effectiveness of 93 percent.

Vaccinated individuals can still contract measles but are less likely to contract the disease and, if they do, are more likely to suffer only mild symptoms, according to the CDC.

Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, a designation that means measles does not spread within the country, with new cases stemming from individuals bringing the disease from outside the United States. That status has been threatened in some years, but it has never been removed.

Through July 8, 1,288 cases of measles had been confirmed in the United States in 2025, the highest number since 1992. More than half have occurred in Texas. A majority of cases have been among people with no or unknown vaccination status.

Kennedy on July 14 noted that multiple other countries have more cases per capita, including Mexico.

“We’ve done a very, very good job at controlling it,” he said. “All the places where there’s outbreaks, the outbreaks are actually declining. We have CDC teams everywhere where the governors have requested it.”

He added that health officials are making sure that doctors are prepared to treat people who contract measles.