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The 2025 US measles outbreak exposes how politicised misinformation and the anti-vaccine rhetoric undermine science, erode trust, and endanger national public health
Image Source: Getty
In January 2025, the United States of America (USA) saw the re-emergence of measles, a paramyxovirus. This resurgence was seen after 25 years, with the previous strain eliminated in 2000. The resurgence should have prompted a national discussion on immunisation and healthcare infrastructure in the US. Instead, it has become a platform for a disturbing surge of misinformation, with conspiracy theories now suggesting that this occurrence of measles is being deployed as a biological weapon. While these claims do not have any scientific basis, they reveal a dangerous trend of politicising information and, subsequently, a deliberate erosion of public trust in science and institutions.
Anti-vaccine rhetoric has shifted from a niche movement to a political identity for many emboldened by misinformation ecosystems and social media echo chambers. In this environment, measles, one of the most contagious yet vaccine-preventable diseases, has become a pawn.
At the centre of this misinformation wave is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), appointed as the new US Secretary of Health and Human Services, who has adopted a controversial stance on public health, particularly concerning the pharmaceutical industry and vaccination policies. His campaign has given greater legitimacy to anti-science narratives, painting public health measures as authoritarian overreach and amplifying fears of government manipulation through vaccination programmes.
Anti-vaccine proponents close to RFK Jr have peddled dangerous falsehoods that the current measles outbreak in Texas is a ‘bioweapon’ aimed explicitly at the Mennonites, a Christian Anabaptist group.
RFK Jr often links unrelated scientific developments, such as synthetic biology or CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), to fear-mongering narratives about government surveillance or population control. He has repeatedly cast public health policies as part of a larger ‘biomedical tyranny’. Subsequently, anti-vaccine proponents close to RFK Jr have peddled dangerous falsehoods that the current measles outbreak in Texas is a ‘bioweapon’ aimed explicitly at the Mennonites, a Christian Anabaptist group.
Such accusations were levelled by Mikki Willis, a filmmaker, famous for his interview on the alleged ‘plandemic.’ In April, in an online conversation, he conversed with RFK Jr., where the pair conspired on the origins and impact of the measles outbreak but also used it to market an alternative medicine sold by Willis’ supplement firm. During the webinar, RFK Jr and Willis, with Dr Richard Bartlett, a doctor known for his controversial medical opinions, discussed medications that would cure measles, despite no scientific citations to such claims, along with pseudoscientific remedies. Their stance on the pharmaceutical industry and misinformation on vitamin A consumption helping curb the measles outbreak has impacted, rather rapidly, public trust and made bipartisan, science-based policy almost impossible.
The US public health professionals have denounced these actions as part of a larger trend within the anti-vaccine movement, where misinformation is used to exert political influence, generate profit, or achieve personal validation. Although Kennedy has publicly stated that the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine is the best protection against measles, he refrained from urging widespread vaccination, referring to it as a ‘personal decision’. He has also undercut that message by implying, without evidence, that vaccine effectiveness decreases by approximately 5 percent each year. This has been criticised by public health experts, often described as ‘standard anti-vaccine extremist’ behaviour.
RFK Jr has also advocated for increased funding for preventive, alternative, and holistic health approaches, proposing that half of the National Institutes of Health's research budget be allocated to such alternatives.
To date, Texas has reported more than 600 cases of measles, with three confirmed child deaths. Experts point out that these fatalities are a direct consequence of the disease, not from the vaccine or other causes spouted by anti-vaccine extremists. RFK Jr has also advocated for increased funding for preventive, alternative, and holistic health approaches, proposing that half of the National Institutes of Health's research budget be allocated to such alternatives. Misinformation about the outbreak is not just inaccurate but harmful as well, having the potential to endanger even more lives by discouraging inoculation and funnelling people to such alternative, untested, costly, and ineffective treatments.
Health experts have expressed concern over RFK Jr's approach, arguing that it undermines public trust in vaccines and hampers efforts to control preventable diseases. His critics point to his inconsistent messaging and the policies' potential public health risks.
While real risks exist in biotechnology, biosafety, and pharmaceutical development, conflating those risks with everyday disease outbreaks, such as measles, is misleading and dangerous. The importance of responsible scientific communication has been a prominent discussion in the last few years, with the advent of modern biotechnology and the conspiracies around the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) purchased short DNA fragments from several suppliers, including members of the International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC). They were able to reassemble a gene from the 1918 influenza virus. The researchers claimed that this showed potential weaknesses in the industry's screening procedures and raised concerns about how easy it would be to synthesise harmful sequences.The IGSC argued that the red-teaming study had misrepresented the industry's biosecurity efforts and emphasised the role of correct communication in scientific dialogue. IGSC’s rebuttal reminds us that the narrative around science matters as much as the science itself.
The IGSC argued that the red-teaming study had misrepresented the industry's biosecurity efforts and emphasised the role of correct communication in scientific dialogue.
Measles’ return to America is neither an enigma nor a constructed threat, but a public health failure, fuelled by imploding vaccination rates and destructive misinformation campaigns. The increasing rate of misinformation around the measles outbreak and the resurgence of discussions on the origins of the COVID-19 Pandemic call for urgent policy action that helps regulate public health distribution and the ethical and factual distribution of medical information.
Globally, such trends already exist. Germany has brought in legislation requiring vaccination for school children, and Australia has linked family welfare payments to immunisation coverage. In addition, standards such as the International Health Regulations stress international cooperation in addressing public health threats and misinformation. However, without national implementation, global guidelines have no impact. Initiatives such as India's SACHET (System for Awareness, Counselling, Holistic Education, and Training) have demonstrated how digital interventions in real-time can enhance community knowledge and confidence, particularly when localised and supported by state and expert credibility. These types of initiatives must be replicated and scaled in the US, with bipartisan consensus and independent monitoring, addressing false information as a form of public health malpractice, and considering the impact on the public’s health.
Germany has brought in legislation requiring vaccination for school children, and Australia has linked family welfare payments to immunisation coverage.
Vaccination is not an individual health choice, but also a civic agreement. It safeguards not only the individual but also the immunocompromised, the young, and those who are medically unable to be vaccinated. Choosing not to vaccinate out of ignorance is not an exercise of individual freedom. It is an abandonment of community responsibility. Public health relies on herd immunity, a tenuous threshold that disintegrates when too many individuals opt out of contributing to protecting their communities.
Shravishtha Ajaykumar is an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Shravishtha Ajaykumar is Associate Fellow at the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology. Her fields of research include geospatial technology, data privacy, cybersecurity, and strategic ...
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