RFK Jr. says diabetes, chronic illnesses pose existential threat not measles outbreak: Should be getting the headlines

WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.Kennedy Jr.

argued Wednesday that the media should pay more attention to diabetes –- not measles outbreaks –- as the thing that is plaguing the country.“I want to say this, we’ve had four measles deaths in this country in 20 years.We have 100,000 autism cases a year.

We have 38% of our kids now are diabetic or pre-diabetic.That should be in the headlines,” the HHS head said at a NewsNation town hall hosted by Chris Cuomo.Kennedy said the media “never” covers the rates of autism or diabetes increasing, and they “only want to cover measles.”“What I’ve been saying to people is, let’s pay attention to other illnesses as well, the illnesses that are really, really damaging our country, that are existential for our country.”“Seventy-four percent of our kids cannot qualify for military service, so this is an existential threat to our national security,” the HHS secretary explained of the risks of rising chronic disease.“It’s an existential threat to our economy, and we have to narrowly focus on that, and that’s what the new HHS is doing.”There are over 660 measles cases in Texas alone amid a recent outbreak of the previously eradicated disease as some Americans continue to be skeptical of vaccines.Kennedy visited Gaines County in West Texas earlier in April to comfort two families who lost their young children to the outbreak, and said he made inroads with the Mennonite community, who he says have religious grounds to not take MMR vaccines.“Our numbers have plateaued, so you’re still seeing added measles cases, but the rate of growth has gone down,” Kennedy said of the measles rates.“There are populations in our country like the Mennonites in Texas were most afflicted, and they have religious objections to the vaccination, because the MMR vaccine contains a lot of aborted fetus debris and DNA particles, so they don’t want to take it,” he said.“We ought to be a...