CHD has promoted a discredited assertion that vitamin C can protect against contracting measles. The organization’s website is currently advertising an ebook titled “The Measles Book: Thirty-Five Secrets the Government and the Media Aren’t Telling You about Measles and the Measles Vaccine,” which includes a foreword by Kennedy, the current Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Neither CHD, Kennedy, nor the HHS responded to requests for comment.
On the social media platform X, anti-vaccine influencers have claimed, without evidence, that hospital staff mistreated the first patient, resulting in their death. Among those spreading this narrative is Syed Haider, a doctor affiliated with the controversial Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), known for promoting dubious treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Haider has nearly 170,000 followers, while Henry Ealy, a naturopathic doctor from Oregon with 50,000 followers on X, has also perpetuated this claim. Ealy previously authored a 2022 report falsely alleging that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention manipulated records to inflate COVID-19 death statistics, a report that CHD has cited in the past.
Marissa Brooke Alesi, an influencer known as Red Pill Patriot, shared a video on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook suggesting that a child was hospitalized for pneumonia and RSV and implying that the subsequent administration of the MMR vaccine contributed to the child’s death. This video has garnered over 3 million views on Instagram alone.
Haider, Ealy, and Alesi did not respond to requests for comment.
Pierre Kory, a doctor recognized for founding the FLCCC and advocating for ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment, has also perpetuated the narrative that measles was not responsible for the deaths of two children in Texas. Recently, he has claimed without evidence that the measles outbreak was a targeted attack on the Mennonite community.
In August of the previous year, the American Board of Internal Medicine revoked Kory’s certifications. The previous month, Kennedy had referred to Kory as a “brave dissident doctor.”
During a conversation with a physician and activist, Kory suggested, “Do you want to know the real story on this case? Several of us believe that they weaponized this measles virus—on purpose. She got sicker from this measles probably because they monkeyed with the virus.”
Kory did not respond to a request for comment.
Kory has described Willis as a “friend,” and they have collaborated on webinars and podcasts in the past. In 2023, Willis adapted Kory’s book “War on Ivermectin” into a documentary.
In a recent webinar, Willis claimed he had been granted exclusive access to the Mennonite community in Texas after Bartlett persuaded the community members to only communicate with him and CHD representatives, avoiding mainstream media, which Willis referred to as “vultures.” Willis stated he had conducted interviews with at least 20 individuals for a short documentary set to be released shortly.
Ahmed commented, “This is a very contemporary example of very old tropes, wherein an extremist seeking to radicalize others distances them from those who could potentially persuade them otherwise, such as doctors, family, community, or journalists who might question and expose what’s happening. You need to isolate them to indoctrinate them without interference.”
