Video shows doctor with measles treating kids. RFK Jr later praised him
as an ‘extraordinary’ healer
[April 21, 2025]
By MICHELLE R. SMITH
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Texas doctor who has been treating children in
a measles outbreak was shown on video with a measles rash on his face in
a clinic a week before Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met him
and praised him as an “extraordinary” healer.
Dr. Ben Edwards appeared in the video posted March 31 by the
anti-vaccine group Kennedy once led, Children’s Health Defense. In it,
Edwards appears wearing scrubs and talking with parents and children in
a makeshift clinic he set up in Seminole, Texas, ground zero of the
outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people and killed three,
including two children.
Edwards is asked whether he had measles, and he responded, “Yes,” then
said his infection started the day before the video was recorded.
“Yesterday was pretty achy. Little mild fever. Spots came in the
afternoon. Today, I woke up feeling good,” Edwards said in the video.
Measles is most contagious for about four days before and four days
after the rash appears and is one of the world's most contagious
diseases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Doctors and public health experts said Edwards' decision to
go into the clinic put children, their parents and their community at
risk because he could have spread it to others. They said there was no
scenario in which Edwards' conduct would be reasonable.
Kennedy met with Edwards about a week after the video was posted by
Children's Health Defense, the group Kennedy led for years until
December. In an April 6 post on X, Kennedy said he “visited with these
two extraordinary healers,” including Edwards and another doctor, and
praised their use of two unproven treatments for measles.
Even as measles has exploded in Texas and spread across the country,
Kennedy, the nation's top health official, has declined to consistently
and forcefully encourage people to vaccinate their children and remind
them that the vaccine is safe. Kennedy's post drawing attention to
Edwards is inappropriate but unsurprising given Kennedy's record, said
Dr. Craig Spencer, a medical doctor who is also a professor at the Brown
University School of Public Health.
"I think is unfortunately perfectly on-brand for how he thinks that
medicine should be practiced," Spencer said. "And that is what makes me
remarkably uncomfortable and extremely concerned and scared for the next
three-and-a-half years.”
It was unclear whether Kennedy knew that Edwards had gone into his
clinic while infected with measles before meeting him. A spokesperson
for Kennedy said he is not anti-vaccine and that he is “committed to
improving children’s health in America and has re-deployed resources to
Texas to help with the current outbreak.” He did not answer why the
health secretary chose to meet with and praise Edwards rather than any
of the other doctors in West Texas who have been treating children in
the outbreak.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left,
stands with Dr. Ben Edwards, right, outside the Reinlander Mennonite
Church in Seminole, Texas, on Sunday, April 6, 2025, after a second
measles death. (AP Photo/Annie Rice, File)
 Edwards told The Associated Press in
an email that he “interacted with zero patients that were not
already infected with measles” during the time he was infectious.
“Therefore, obviously, there were no patients that were put in
danger of acquiring measles since they already had measles.”
But Jessica Steier, a public health scientist, said the video shows
Edwards in the room with people who do not appear sick, including
parents of sick children and the people who visited the clinic from
Children's Health Defense. She also questioned what steps Edwards
was taking to confirm people were sick with measles, rather than
relying on guesswork.
Steier, who runs the Science Literacy Lab and co-wrote an article
about Edwards' conduct, said while there may be some extraordinary
emergencies where it would be appropriate for a sick doctor to work,
this is not one of those situations because there is no shortage of
providers who are not infected. She also pointed out that the video
shows Edwards was not wearing a mask.
“You have the HHS secretary lifting him up," she said. "You know,
it’s so, so dangerous. I really feel for the people who are on the
ground.”
Children’s Health Defense has sued a number of news organizations,
among them the AP, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by
taking action to identify misinformation, including about the
COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.
Kennedy's promotion of a doctor who has touted unproven measles
treatments is “wholly irresponsible” but is in line with Kennedy's
long public record of anti-vaccine views, said Dr. Paul Offit, a
pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He said Kennedy
has carried those views to his new job as the head of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
"He’s not the director of Children’s Health Defense anymore. He’s
responsible for the health and well-being of children in this
country,” Offit said. “It's an emergency, but Kennedy is not
treating it that way.”
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