WASHINGTON (Sept. 17, 2026) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. headlined Children’s Health Defense’s Washington conference Thursday — his first official CHD appearance since taking office — and told the vaccine-skeptic crowd they have “a strong and steadfast friend at the White House.”

The speech came amid the worst U.S. measles outbreak in decades, a surge driven largely by unvaccinated people. Reporting tied to federal and state tallies puts national cases above 3,200 this year, with measles-related deaths reported in Pennsylvania, including infants.

Kennedy co-founded Children’s Health Defense and chaired it for years before leaving to run for president. On Thursday he framed the Trump administration as ending what he called government stigma against parents who “question vaccine orthodoxies,” while insisting HHS had “not taken vaccines away from anyone.”

Policy fights already in court

As secretary, Kennedy has pushed major changes to federal vaccine guidance and advisory panels. Courts have already slowed pieces of that agenda: a federal judge paused childhood-schedule changes after medical groups sued, and separately found his overhaul of the CDC’s vaccine advisers did not follow federal procedure. HHS has appealed.

In the CHD keynote, Kennedy urged patience with the pace of bureaucracy, said entrenched interests would keep suing to slow him down, and vowed to “stay in this fight as long as I am able.” Coverage of the event also noted remarks questioning vaccine-injury reporting systems and floating investigations into topics far outside routine infectious-disease science.

Major medical organizations continue to say licensed vaccines are highly safe and effective, and that serious adverse events are rare — a clash that is now playing out with an HHS secretary who built his brand challenging that consensus.

Sources: CNN; Associated Press via WTOP/NBC Washington; The Hill; The Guardian; C-SPAN event listing for HHS remarks at Children’s Health Defense.