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RFK Jr. Fact Checks Governor’s Vaccine Claim
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RFK Jr. Fact Checks Governor’s Vaccine Claim

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed back against Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro this week after the Democratic governor accused him of spreading misinformation about the MMR vaccine, setting off a dispute that involves fetal-derived cell lines, declining vaccination rates and conflicting accounts surrounding two deaths described by Pennsylvania officials as measles-associated.

Shapiro made the accusations during a Tuesday news conference after speaking with Kennedy by phone. The governor said he had confronted the HHS secretary over what he considered damaging rhetoric about vaccines.


“I was very, very blunt with him and I made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that’s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America, particularly right here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said.

“There’s real life consequences to spreading misinformation,” he added. “Sharing conspiracy theories and misinformation does not help the cause of public health.”

Kennedy responded on X with his own account of their conversation. According to Kennedy, one point of contention involved whether the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine contains fetal tissue.

Kennedy said he told Shapiro that some Americans have religious objections to the MMR vaccine because of its connection to fetal-derived cell lines. Shapiro responded, according to Kennedy, by saying, “There is no fetal tissue in the MMR.”


That distinction quickly became the center of the dispute.

Kennedy pointed to the history of the rubella vaccine and Dr. Stanley Plotkin, who helped develop its rubella component. Kennedy also said the rubella virus used in MMR-II is grown using WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts, a cell line originally derived from fetal lung tissue following an abortion in the 1960s.

Kennedy went further, claiming that residual human DNA and cellular material from the cell line can remain in vaccine doses.

The American Academy of Pediatrics describes the matter differently and draws a distinction between vaccines containing fetal tissue and vaccines manufactured using laboratory cell lines originally derived from fetal tissue.

“Vaccines do not contain fetal cells,” the organization states. “Some vaccines involve growing viruses in human cell cultures originally developed from two aborted fetuses in the 1960s. These cell lines are still going, so no new aborted fetuses are ever needed. Purification processes filter the vaccine during production, and no fetal tissue remains.”


In other words, there is a documented historical connection between some vaccine production and fetal-derived cell lines, while the AAP disputes the characterization that the finished vaccines themselves contain fetal cells or fetal tissue. Kennedy’s additional claims about the quantity and nature of residual DNA were not established by the material cited here.

The disagreement did not stop there.

Kennedy said Shapiro accused him more broadly of promoting vaccine misinformation but, when asked during their phone conversation for a specific example, could not provide one.

“Governor Shapiro also accused me of promoting vaccine misinformation,” Kennedy wrote. “When I asked him for an example, he was unable to provide one, but this did not deter him from publicly repeating that accusation during his press event.”

Kennedy also disputed Shapiro’s attempt to connect him to Pennsylvania’s falling vaccination rate. According to Kennedy, Shapiro acknowledged during their conversation that most of the decline from 97 percent to 93.2 percent occurred during the Biden administration.


Kennedy attributed declining confidence in vaccination programs partly to government conduct during the COVID era, arguing that lockdowns and what he described as official “deceptions, manipulation, and overreach” damaged public trust.

Despite the increasingly sharp exchange, Kennedy has continued recommending measles vaccination.

“Our advice is that people should get the measles vaccination,” Kennedy said during a news conference in Tampa.

“There are certain communities and certain religious communities that do not want to do that, and we want to take care of those kids as well,” he added.

The MMR vaccine remains among the childhood vaccines recommended by HHS.

Written by Arthur Higgens - August 28, 2026