In tweet about Texas measles outbreak, RFK Jr. praises pair of anti-vax doctors

After visiting the epicenter of Texas’ growing measles outbreak, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, tweeted out praise for a pair of Lone Star State doctors with records of dispensing endorsing alternative treatments that contradict guidance from infectious disease experts.

Kennedy, one of the nation’s highest-profile vaccine skeptics, called both physicians “extraordinary healers,” even though one of the two was disciplined roughly 20 years ago by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners for ordering unnecessary tests and false diagnoses, according to state records.

Kennedy was in Texas visiting with the family of an 8-year-old unvaccinated girl in Lubbock who became the second fatality in Texas’ measles outbreak. On Saturday, the HHS secretary initially tweeted out that his department is working to “support Texas health officials” and learn how it can better partner with state agencies to control the measles outbreak.

“The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,” Kennedy said in that tweet.

At first, the social media post made it appear Kennedy, who’d previously downplayed the Texas outbreak and suggested getting measles was the best way to combat its spread, was changing his tune.

However, hours after the pro-vaccine post, Kennedy shared photos from the trip and lavished praised on the two doctors with the history of dispensing unconventional treatments. The HHS secretary commended Dr. Richard Bartlett and Dr. Ben Edwards, whom he said had “treated and healed some 300 measles-stricken Mennonite children using aerosolized budesonide and clarithromycin.”

Although medical researchers have explored aerosolized budesonide and clarithromycin as possible measles treatments, most health experts accept that there’s no “cure” for measles — only treatments that can mitigate the symptoms.

For his part, Bartlett was disciplined by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners in 2003 for ordering unnecessary diagnostic tests, improper management of a patient’s diabetes and “questionably diagnosing” another patient with bronchitis despite having normal lung function, according to state records obtained by the Current.

Bartlett also touted unproved steroid treatments as a cure for COVID-19, according to TK.

Meanwhile, Edwards has a history of criticizing the measles vaccine, including proclaiming in a podcast that the Texas outbreak was “God’s version of measles immunization,” the Washington Post reports.

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This article appears in Apr 2-15, 2025.