In a sharp and data-packed exchange on Capitol Hill, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a rare but resolute correction to Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro during a heated hearing about public health funding. At issue was the status of measles outbreaks worldwide, and whether the United States stands as a global outlier in infection rates—a claim Kennedy categorically refuted with hard numbers and international comparisons.
NEW: RFK Jr. flips the script on Democrat Rosa DeLauro—and exposes total chaos inside HHS.
DeLauro tried to corner him on tobacco prevention funding. But Kennedy turned the tables, spotlighting the disastrous failures under her oversight.
Rosa DeLauro: “Do you commit to… pic.twitter.com/uw7EUwo92L
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Rep. DeLauro suggested that the United States is experiencing higher measles rates than peer nations, pointing to countries like Great Britain and asserting that the U.S. has failed in containment where others have succeeded. But Kennedy, refusing to let the assertion slide, came armed with verifiable statistics. “Let me address your issue first, because I want to correct you,” he said, countering with up-to-date figures from multiple nations.
According to Kennedy:
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The U.S. has approximately 1,100 confirmed measles cases and a growth rate of only 15 additional cases last year, signaling a plateau.
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Mexico, with one-third the U.S. population, had over 1,041 cases, including 300 new cases just last week.
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Canada is reporting 1,506 cases, with just one-eighth of America’s population.
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Western Europe is experiencing a surge with approximately 6,000 cases—ten times the U.S. count.
Each of these figures is backed by independent government and public health sources, including the CDC, the Canadian Public Health Agency, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. These stats paint a very different picture from the one initially offered by DeLauro.
Kennedy didn’t stop at surface-level statistics—he addressed DeLauro’s comparison framework. Her reference to the “WHO European region,” which includes countries like Romania that have never eliminated measles due to low vaccination rates, was a key sticking point. Kennedy rightly pointed out that this grouping extends into parts of Central Asia, diluting the effectiveness of a “Western Europe” comparison. By focusing on nations typically used as benchmarks—like the U.K., Germany, and France—the conversation gains proper context.
That said, even in the Western bloc, cases are spiking. The ECDC reports that the measles resurgence across Europe is the most significant in years, driven largely by post-pandemic declines in routine childhood vaccination.
While the exchange became a moment of statistical fact-checking, it also underscored deeper political tensions. DeLauro was pressing Kennedy on whether NIH research is being undermined by budget cuts, suggesting that reduced funding could endanger vaccine development and disease surveillance. Kennedy, in contrast, focused on current data transparency and global accountability, challenging the narrative that the U.S. is lagging behind.
By correcting the record, Kennedy not only highlighted the relative strength of the U.S. measles response but also emphasized the importance of comparative, data-driven analysis—especially when public perception is so often shaped by incomplete or misleading international comparisons.