How Measles, Whooping Cough, and Worse Could Roar Back on RFK Jr.’s Watch - KFF Health News

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , the country’s best-known anti-vaccine activist, has been nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Experts say a confluence of factors could cause renewed, deadly epidemics of measles, whooping cough, and meningitis, or even polio.

Kennedy ’s nomination “bodes ill for the development of new vaccines and the use of currently available vaccines,” expert says.

Vaccine exhaustion and skepticism had driven down demand for newer vaccines like RSV and shingles shots.

Kennedy has ample options to slow or stop new vaccine releases or slow sales of existing vaccines.

Advocates see an uphill battle to defend vaccination in courts, legislatures, and the public square.

The vaccine choice movement has been growing since 2015 and took off during the pandemic.

The biggest threat to existing vaccination policies could be plans by the Trump administration to remove civil service protections for federal workers.

“The genie is out of the bottle, and you can’t put it back in,” says one expert.