Kennedy ataca a Fauci por su respuesta a la pandemia, repite desinformación sobre vacunas

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blamed Dr. Anthony Fauci for COVID-19 lockdowns imposed during the pandemic and repeated discredited claims about vaccines, respiratory syncytial virus, and measles during a CNN interview Sunday, according to KVIA.

The appearance came after Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during a congressional hearing the previous week as Republicans criticized his role in the government's pandemic response.

On CNN's "State of the Union with Dana Bash," Kennedy said President Donald Trump, who was in office at the pandemic's start and downplayed the virus, bore no responsibility for the government's response. "Trump, as you'll recall, wanted to end the lockdowns. I think what hurt our country the most were the lockdowns," Kennedy said, according to KVIA. Lockdowns were overseen by state and local leaders responding to intensive care unit collapses and hospital requests for assistance in the pandemic's early stages.

Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as White House COVID-19 response coordinator under President Joe Biden from 2022 to 2023, disputed Kennedy's claims. "Responsibility should rest with our political leaders, not the scientists giving advice," Jha told Bash after Kennedy's appearance. "Much of the information Secretary Kennedy provided is simply not true. It is objectively false."

The clash reflects growing divisions over public health authority as Kennedy's skepticism of conventional science now shapes federal policy from inside the government. Kennedy questioned his handling of measles outbreaks, telling Bash: "The communities that are suffering from measles are almost all religious communities that simply don't get vaccinated." A Mennonite community was the initial focus of a West Texas outbreak that began last year, but the virus spread rapidly among unvaccinated people outside that group, reaching nearly 800 cases and killing two children before the outbreak ended.

In 2026, dozens more outbreaks have produced the highest case count in 35 years, with over 90 percent occurring in unvaccinated people or those with unknown vaccination status. South Carolina had more measles cases than any other state, with an outbreak in Spartanburg County registering nearly 1,000 cases before ending in April. Health authorities recommend two doses of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine in childhood, with 97 percent effectiveness against infection. Experts warn measles outbreak potential persists wherever vaccination rates fall below 95 percent, the key immunity threshold for this highly contagious disease.