From NPR.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on Capitol Hill this week, where he was pressed by lawmakers about the rise in measles cases.

Kennedy has a history of anti-vaccine activism and has emphasized vaccination as a personal choice, rather than encouraging more people to get the measles vaccine as the disease spreads across the country. In response to questions Wednesday, he deflected blame for the country experiencing its highest number of measles cases in three decades and said he’s done a great job containing the spread of measles, and stressed that it’s a global problem.

Meanwhile, New Jersey is the latest of more than 30 states reporting cases of the highly contagious virus. The first case was recorded late last week in Hudson County, just across the river from Manhattan. So far this year, nearly 1,750 cases have been reported, according to data from the CDC — more than 75% of the number of cases reported for all of 2025.

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