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was originally reported by Barbara Rodriguez of .

In mid-March, the parents of a 6-year-old girl in Texas who died of measles complications 鈥� the 鈥� decided to speak out about what happened to their daughter.

But it was not an interview with a news outlet. The parents had agreed to an exclusive on-camera interview with staff from the Children鈥檚 Health Defense (CHD), a nonprofit that promotes anti-vaccine sentiment and policies. Their daughter, Kayley, had been unvaccinated, a point the parents defended in the interview.

Kayley鈥檚 father, who spoke at times in a German dialect through a translator, said that measles is 鈥渘ot as bad as the media is making it out to be.鈥�

A few weeks later, the father of an 8-year-old who became the second measles-related death, according to public health officials, also spoke with CHD through video. Asked if he regrets not vaccinating his child, Daisy, or his other children, the father said: 鈥淎bsolutely not. And from here on out, if I have any other kids in the future, they鈥檙e not going to be vaccinated at all.鈥�

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met with these parents in April, he said , 鈥渢o console the families and to be with the community in their moment of grief.鈥� He advocated for the highly effective measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine in that same post. Hours later, in a separate post, .

As Kennedy tries to respond to the spread of measles cases in the United States 鈥� more than 700 cases have been reported in at least 25 states as of April 10, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 鈥� medical experts say that messaging has been mixed. But any focus on vaccination is also being undermined by CHD, the anti-vaccine nonprofit Kennedy chaired from 2015 to 2023, the year he launched a presidential campaign.

As of , Kennedy has said he is no longer officially affiliated with the group, which has repeatedly questioned the safety of vaccines, . But CHD still prominently displays its former ties to Kennedy. The secretary has a standalone tab on the group鈥檚 鈥淎bout鈥� section, which credits him as its founder. Its video site features public appearances that Kennedy has made in his current role as secretary, including a recent trip to Indiana and his first major news conference in the role.

This year, CDH published a website that mimicked the design of a CDC site 鈥� with nearly identical layout, logos and typefaces 鈥� that laid out what it called research that vaccines cause autism () alongside some data debunking the theory. first reported on the existence of the mock site.

When asked about the site by The New York Times, the secretary would send a request to ask the group to take down the site.

An HHS spokesperson for Kennedy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for CHD, contacted through a form on their website, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CHD boasts a media apparatus that includes a video-focused site and podcast that shares claims about vaccine safety, including about the MMR vaccine. On these platforms, commentators and an array of guests openly criticize news coverage on the growing measles cases and related deaths, which public health officials say includes an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico as well as the two children. (Many of the videos also note that the hosts鈥� and guests鈥� views are not necessarily the views of Children鈥檚 Health Defense.)

鈥淭his constant fear mongering by the media 鈥� to see them rampage like this on inaccuracies and peddling falsehoods and just distortions, it’s terrible,鈥� said one guest identified as a doctor to discuss one of the girls鈥� medical histories.

Measles, a highly contagious airborne disease, can appear through fever and a rash. It : 1 in 20 people get pneumonia; 1 to 3 in 1,000 people get brain swelling known as encephalitis; and 1 in 1,000 people die.

The scope of the CHD messaging 鈥� including interviews with parents expressing vaccine skepticism 鈥� shows how so-called anti-vaxxers may be weaponizing tragedy to promote an agenda, said Kelsey Suter, a partner at Upswing, an opinion research and strategy firm that supports Democratic candidates and progressive causes. Suter has monitored online disinformation about vaccines since around the start of the pandemic for several clients.

鈥淭his group in particular has long cherry-picked individual stories and sort of held them up to represent a broader trend that doesn鈥檛 exist,鈥� she said, noting that CHD has shared parent-centered videos in the past about purported vaccine injuries.

Kennedy who tried to distance himself from that record during his contentious to lead the country鈥檚 expansive health department. Before Kennedy鈥檚 longshot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination 鈥� which culminated in an independent candidacy and subsequent endorsement of Republican President Donald Trump 鈥� he was closely tied to the Children鈥檚 Health Defense.

The nonprofit, previously known as the World Mercury Project, says it aims to end 鈥渃hildhood health epidemics by eliminating toxic exposure.鈥� Kennedy, also its former chief litigation counsel, took a leave from CHD in 2023 to run for office. During a Wednesday news conference, could play a role in autism 鈥� a framing that autism groups . (CHD has publicly linked vaccines to autism, .)

CHD鈥檚 messaging 鈥� which includes a standalone site for 鈥渘ews and views鈥� and an accompanying newsletter 鈥� highlights an evolution of how misinformation and disinformation over vaccines is being directed at parents at a time when vaccination rates for kindergarteners . Parents are already targeted by social media influencer accounts about their children鈥檚 health and wellness. Some of that information is packaged in video that can be more widely shared than in previous eras of vaccine skepticism, a phenomenon that has existed since the development of the first vaccine more than 200 years ago.

Some of the misinformation circulating online is that measles was not a dangerous disease when it spread rampantly in the 60s. (In the decade before a vaccine was available in 1963, . Between 400 and 500 died and thousands were hospitalized each year at the time.)

鈥淚t鈥檃 this kind of broader lifestyle perspective that incorporates vaccine hesitancy and is being sort of packaged up and targeted for moms in particular, but parents generally,鈥� Suter said.

The two-dose MMR vaccine is safe and . Side effects, which pediatricians share with parents when their children are vaccinated, can include a sore arm and mild rash. Medical professionals say the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks of being unvaccinated.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not hiding the side effects, we鈥檙e just telling you what they are and we鈥檙e putting it in context,鈥� said Dr. Kathryn Edwards, a longtime expert in infectious diseases who recently retired. 鈥淲hat is a more grave danger 鈥� to get infected with measles or to get the vaccine? And that is a really easy question. , it is much, much better to be immunized than to get the disease.鈥�

The videos on 鈥淐HD.TV鈥� run the gamut in terms of programming. In the video of the parents of the 6-year-old girl, they say their child had a fever, leading to a visit to a nearby hospital where her condition worsened. She died in February. Her siblings were also infected with measles, according to her parents, but they recovered. They credit treatments that medical experts say do not have a therapeutic role in treating or preventing measles infection. Still, Kennedy has defended the treatments for secondary symptoms.

In a separate video, staff speculated about whether the 8-year-old died from a different ailment related to her hospital stay 鈥� a sentiment also expressed by her father and . CHD staff also criticized the scope of hospital care that the girls received.

Abram Wagner is an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan who studies vaccine hesitancy. He said building trust within a community that is hesitant about vaccines relies on messengers who are well-known members of that community. He said it can be potent for an anti-vaccine group to travel to these communities and highlight the personal stories of parents 鈥� including the narrative technique of imagery and voice through video 鈥� to emphasize an agenda because those parents are themselves potentially trusted messengers.

Wagner said it鈥檚 important for the public to take into account the framing of these interviews involving the parents of unvaccinated children. He noted they had experienced trauma 鈥� the loss of a child 鈥� and that makes them vulnerable in such settings. He also wondered about the social impact of losing a child in a close-knit community. Both families are members of a at the epicenter of the outbreak in West Texas.

It sets up hard work for the public health officials, including state officials, who go into these communities to counter anti-vaccine messaging, Wagner added. This week, a CDC official told a vaccine committee that federal officials were 鈥渟craping to find the resources and personnel needed to provide support to Texas and other jurisdictions鈥� as it relates to the outbreaks.

鈥淭he issue is, how do you create trusted messengers and how do you develop that over time?鈥� said Wagner.

Suter said she is not surprised that the MMR vaccine has been targeted in disinformation messaging, since falsely tied that vaccine to autism.

鈥淭he MMR vaccine was really the first modern vaccine to be targeted with this kind of disinformation questioning its safety,鈥� she said.

Suter said that before the pandemic 鈥� which propelled distrust of COVID-19 vaccines 鈥� being against vaccines still included some left-wing partisan perspective that included 鈥渃runchy鈥� mothers. But vaccine hesitancy is now rooted in a broader topic of distrust of government officials and of the health care system.

鈥淣ow, being anti-vaccine is not exclusively right-wing coded, but is much more integrated into right-wing politics than it used to be,鈥� she said.

Edwards said Kennedy has opened a messaging vacuum on measles and the MMR vaccine that groups like CHD have filled. Edwards noted that when Kennedy was asked in late February about the growing measles outbreak that began in Texas, he said such outbreaks are 鈥渘ot unusual,鈥� a description that . Kennedy later said that the decision to vaccinate 鈥渋s a personal one鈥� for parents 鈥� a framing that Edwards disagrees with.

鈥淎t that point, there should have been a strong message that vaccination should be done and will prevent disease,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he fact that there has been so much indecision and lack of clarity, in terms of what Secretary Kennedy has said and what he lets other people say, has really confused things. That has made families think that it鈥檚 appropriate not to vaccinate.鈥�

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