We write to you today from Vaccinate Your Family, not as an institution, but as a team made up of people who care deeply about the health of our families and our communities. We are adults making vaccine decisions for ourselves, we are parents who have children of all ages, we are the adult children of aging parents, we are adults who live with chronic health conditions, and some of us are even individuals who have lost a child or loved ones to vaccine-preventable diseases.
The United States is currently in the midst of a massive measles epidemic, with over 900 confirmed cases in 30 states, which is almost certainly an undercount. Three people have died of measles this year, none of whom were vaccinated against measles. Two of those deaths were children —the first pediatric deaths from measles in the U.S. since 2003.
Measles isn’t the only vaccine-preventable disease surging. The United States has just surpassed the highest number of influenza-related pediatric deaths in a non-pandemic year. More than 215 children have died so far this season from flu. Many of those deaths were preventable. Last flu season, an estimated 90% of the children who died from flu were unvaccinated.
In 2024, the U.S. reported nearly 36,000 cases of pertussis (whooping cough) and 10 deaths, numbers that were 6-fold greater than in 2023. This year, more than 6,600 cases of pertussis have been recorded, and two babies have died.
Children dying from vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States in 2025 is tragic, senseless, and deeply alarming. We share these statistics not to scare parents, but out of a deep sense of concern for the direction our nation is headed.
If you have questions and concerns about vaccines, you are not alone; there’s nothing wrong with wanting to make sure you’re making a safe, healthy choice. Vaccinate Your Family is here to offer guidance to parents and families because we know how important trustworthy, science-backed information is in making our own decisions to vaccinate. We want to make sure families have information about and access to vaccines that can keep us safe from preventable illness.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. holds a position of great power as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. His office is responsible for overseeing public health policy and administering funding for health programs and services for the United States. For decades, RFK has been engaged in activism to deny Americans’ access to life-saving vaccines. He publicly disparages the agencies in place that protect us from deadly infectious diseases and casts doubt on the safety of vaccines. His views are not supported by evidence, but he is now in a leadership position with the power and platform to shape information and access to life-saving vaccines.
Below, we offer more context and resources to help make sense of what you may be hearing about vaccines in recent months.
So far this year:
Sadly, these actions do nothing to make America healthier. There are decades of research from within the United States and around the globe that tell us that making vaccines harder to access and less popular will cost the lives of American children.
Vaccinate Your Family makes this statement in defense of the lives of our own children, our elderly relatives, and our fellow Americans who deserve the ability to protect themselves from preventable diseases. We will continue to advocate for vaccine access, support a rigorous scientific process to ensure vaccine safety, and provide evidence-based information about vaccines.
We invite parents and families to ask questions and lean on guidance from trusted sources like pediatricians, community health workers, midwives, nurses, or pharmacists. Remember that routine vaccines for babies and children have decades-long track records as safe tools that save lives. The health of our nation depends on all of us fighting back against preventable diseases by vaccinating our families.
In this together,
Vaccinate Your Family