On March 5, 2025, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. made several false claims about measles and the measles vaccine and promoted an alternative treatment regimen that includes a steroid, an antibiotic, and Vitamin A from cod liver oil.
Kennedy told Fox News that the regimen had caused “almost miraculous and instantaneous recovery” in West Texas measles patients and that HHS will be running clinical trials on the steroid budesonide, the antibiotic clarithromycin, and cod liver oil therapies. One of the two doctors prescribing this treatment, Dr. Richard Bartlett, previously faced disciplinary action by the state medical board for “inappropriately using medications such as powerful intravenous antibiotics and ‘multi-day doses’ of long-acting steroids.”
Kennedy also stoked fear about the safety of the measles vaccine, claiming that it “cause[s] deaths every year” and “causes all the illnesses that measles itself cause[s].” Kennedy instead suggests that “studies show [vitamin A] is good for prophylaxis,” which medical experts refute, and which can be toxic in high doses.
Kennedy also downplayed the threat posed by measles, stating that “[i]f you are healthy, it’s almost impossible for you to be killed by an infectious disease.” The measles outbreak in Texas has infected hundreds of people and resulted in two deaths.