The health secretary has long pushed misinformation about vaccines and played down an outbreak in Texas that has led to the death of a child.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said the measles outbreak in west Texas is a “call to action,” as he encouraged parents to consider whether to get their children vaccinated. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, said the decision to vaccinate is “personal” but defended the efficacy of…

Since then, Kennedy said that HHS was helping health officials in Texas respond to the outbreak and spoke approvingly of the measles vaccine, but has still stopped short of calling for everyone to get vaccinated, writing Sunday in a Fox News op-ed that “the decision to vaccinate is a personal one.”