The man who spent decades calling vaccines dangerous now oversees the country's health agencies while diseases return from elimination.

"When the Trump administration declares a crisis 'under control', it is time to brace for the worst yet to come."

— Public health critic, responding to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s July 21 statement on cyclosporiasis

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that there have been 2,318 confirmed measles cases in the United States so far in 2026. That surpasses the 2,289 cases reported during all of 2025 and dwarfs the 283 cases from 2024. The last time the numbers were this high was 1991, when the country recorded approximately 2,700 cases. The past 18 months alone have produced more measles infections than the previous 25 years combined.

According to the CDC, 93 percent of infected people were unvaccinated. New outbreaks have been reported in Wyoming, Delaware, and Arizona. The number is expected to climb through summer, which is historically when measles transmission peaks.

The Pan American Health Organization will review the United States' measles eradication status later this year. In 2000, the country declared the disease eliminated. It may not get that designation back.

The measles resurgence is not the only public health emergency underway. The CDC reported 11,500 cyclosporiasis cases across 41 states, caused by a parasite that triggers weeks of explosive diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and dehydration. Michigan alone accounts for more than 7,000 suspected cases. The FDA and CDC have narrowed their focus to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, though a initial positive test was later reversed as a false positive, creating public confusion about whether consumers should avoid the product.

On Tuesday, July 21, Kennedy told ABC News the cyclospora outbreak was "under control." Within 24 hours, the CDC's case count had jumped from approximately 4,200 laboratory-confirmed cases to more than 11,500 across the country. There were more than 600 new cases in Michigan alone in the days following Kennedy's assurance.

Translation: when the health secretary says a crisis is contained, treat it as the opening salvo.

The FDA's handling of the Taylor Farms investigation revealed a deeper dysfunction. The agency said illnesses started on May 17 but did not issue a public notice until July 16. That is a 60-day gap during which consumers continued to eat potentially contaminated produce. Frank Yiannas, former deputy commissioner of food policy and response at the FDA, said the response was slower than it should have been. One measure that could have accelerated it, the FDA's Food Traceability Rule, was supposed to go into effect in 2026 but was delayed by two-and-a-half years by the Trump administration.

The cyclospora and measles outbreaks are happening alongside other failures that trace back to the same policy choices. Midwest Poultry Services in Texas recalled nearly 1.6 million cartons of eggs, sold under Kroger and other brands across five states, after salmonella contamination sickened at least 98 people. The eggs were produced between June 6 and July 3. The recall announcement came in late July, giving consumers weeks of exposure before the warning.

The New World screwworm, a flesh-eating fly parasite that lays eggs in the open wounds of livestock, was eradicated from the United States in the 1960s through a massive federal sterilization campaign. It returned to Texas in early 2026 with at least 12 confirmed cases in cattle. Forbes reported that the Department of Government Efficiency cut funding for the New World screwworm monitoring program and then ignored warnings from ranchers that the parasite was working its way back across the border.

Dr. Daniel Jernigan, former director of the CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, pointed to a specific cut that crippled the agency's response capacity: the CDC's Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria lost $40 million in funding from USAID after the Trump administration dismantled the foreign aid agency. Jernigan estimates the division lost about one-quarter of its staff. "At the beginning of this response, the cuts because of the USAID funding made that division less capable of responding fast," he said. "Just fewer people, you don't have the reserve."

The structural damage goes deeper than any single program. A May analysis from the Congressional Research Service found the administration terminated $5.78 billion in CDC grants to states. States use those block grants to fund epidemiologists and specialists who investigate outbreaks. Kentucky reported its foodborne illness case interview unit has experienced a 30 percent to 50 percent decrease in staffing due to reduced federal grants, with more cuts expected next year.

The CDC's FoodNet surveillance system, which tracks foodborne illness trends over time, stopped mandatory reporting for six of eight pathogens it previously monitored, including cyclospora, because there was not enough money for the work. Kennedy defended the cuts as eliminating "redundant surveillance." The FDA's main press office was gutted, stripping the agency of outbreak communications expertise at precisely the moment when clear public messaging matters most.

Donald Schaffner, chair of food science at Rutgers University, called the FDA's false-positive reversal a "pretty big screw up" and said he had never seen such a communication failure from the agency. Craig Hedberg, co-director of the Minnesota Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence, said the cuts to federal funding over the past year have reduced the country's capacity to respond to outbreaks like this one.

Kennedy has reportedly "checked out" of his duties as HHS secretary since March, with the White House stepping in to manage the department. The CDC has not had a permanent director for most of the Trump's second term. Susan Monarez, the only CDC director confirmed by the Senate under Trump, was fired by Kennedy in August 2025 after less than a month on the job. The position has remained vacant ever since.

Meanwhile, Kennedy continues to promote the same fringe health beliefs that made him famous before taking office. He has suggested vitamin A is an effective treatment for measles. He wanted to spend $5 billion studying the debunked link between vaccines and autism. JAMA published a special report documenting the assault on the CDC's chronic disease prevention programs under his direction.

The American Medical Association posted the CDC's measles data with a single observation: the highest annual total since measles was declared eliminated in the United States. No editorializing. The data requires none.

Vaccination coverage among kindergarteners in at least 36 states is below the 95 percent threshold needed for herd immunity, according to CDC data. A 5 percent drop in coverage is enough to trigger outbreaks. Kennedy's department is not actively supporting vaccination campaigns.

The question is not whether the man who spent his career discrediting public health institutions would preside over their collapse. The question is why anyone thought it would end differently.