RFK Jr.’s Mixed Vax Signals Puts Black Schoolkids at Higher Risk

by Jennifer Porter Gore

Months of mixed messages from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including remarks casting doubt on routine childhood vaccines, have fueled nationwide confusion about back-to-school shots — a problem that could leave Black families disproportionately facing the fallout.

As parents and school districts scramble to interpret shifting federal guidance, experts warn that ongoing vaccine skepticism at the top of the nation’s health policy agency — coupled with a deadly measles outbreak, the worst in a quarter century — could deepen racial health disparities and put Black children at greater risk of falling further behind in their education.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday that childhood vaccine rates co