Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has recently been criticized for his response to the current measles outbreak, which has reportedly already killed two people in Pennsylvania. RFK Jr. blamed the Pennsylvania governor for not cooperating with the federal administration, and residents were angry to see him deflecting blame for the outbreak.
During an interview with C-SPAN, a reporter asked the secretary about the two reported deaths in Pennsylvania. He answered that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was not cooperating by sharing information with the relevant agencies.
Kennedy Jr. claimed that the United States was doing “a better job than any country in the world at controlling measles outbreaks,” once again blaming the Pennsylvania governor for not cooperating. He also claimed that the current administration is “restoring the faith in the public health agency.”
Pennsylvania Residents Criticize RFK Jr.
Pennsylvania residents on r/Pennsylvania were furious to see the secretary denying what they believed was his own and Trump’s fault: “It’s always an excuse. It’s always someone else’s fault.” Someone else added: “Yeah, every Republican that I know cannot accept any fault; it’s always somebody else. No possible introspection or becoming a better person from mistakes because they’re perfect in their eyes.”
A lack of accountability was seen as a major flaw in the federal government by some locals: “That’s the playbook. Make bad decisions based on nothing but emotion, ignore the consequences of those bad decisions, lie when confronted with them, appeal to the emotions of uninformed voters to keep power, do it all over again.”
Other users were also outraged: “I can’t believe he used air quotes when talking about the deaths. One of the victims was an infant. Just when I thought my opinion of him could not possibly get any lower.”
One person responded sarcastically: “But I mean, be fair: who could have known that repeatedly eroding public confidence in vaccines would lead to a drop in parents vaccinating, and thus long-eradicated diseases coming back and killing people?”
It remains to be seen when the measles outbreak will finally end in Pennsylvania, but until then, locals will have to take care.
