RFK Jr. Fact Checks Democratic Governor Who Claimed 'There Is No Fetal Tissue' in MMR Vaccine
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fact-checked Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro after he claimed that there is “no fetal tissue” in the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, known as MMR.
During a Tuesday news conference, Shapiro accused Kennedy of spreading vaccine misinformation and tied it to the deaths of two people in Lancaster County, which he said were “measles-associated,” a claim county officials have since disputed.
In a phone call with Kennedy, the governor recounted, “I was very, very blunt with him and I made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that’s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America, particularly right here in Pennsylvania.”
“There’s real life consequences to spreading misinformation. There are real-life consequences to scaring people and not relying on actual doctors and actual medical professionals to provide unbiased information to parents so that we can make reasonable decisions for our kids,” he added.
“Sharing conspiracy theories and misinformation does not help the cause of public health,” Shapiro said.
.@GovernorShapiro calls out RFK Jr. for spreading misinformation and dangerous rhetoric surrounding vaccines:
“I made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that’s coming from this Administration are having a negative impact on communities… that there’s real-life… pic.twitter.com/5xWCEMR1ZV
— Pennsylvania Governor’s Office (@PAGovOffice) August 25, 2026
Kennedy responded with a post on X, writing, “At his press conference today, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro accused me of promoting conspiracy theories because I told him, during an earlier telephone conversation, that some Americans had religious objections to the MMR vaccine because it contained fetal tissue. ‘There is no fetal tissue in the MMR,’ he told me.”
The post included video testimony from Dr. Stanley Plotkin, who developed the rubella component of the MMR vaccine, according to the Smithsonian.
“Plotkin admits to butchering 76 aborted normally developing fetuses, all over three months old, in just one of the many studies that led to the development of his vaccine,” RFK Jr. wrote.
“The rubella virus used in MMR-II is grown on the cultured cell line composed of lung tissue from an aborted three-month-old female embryo and listed as ‘WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts’ in the ingredients of MMR-II as portions of these cells end up in each vial of MMR II,” Kennedy added.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 26, 2026
“This equals approximately 646 billion pieces of human DNA from an aborted fetal cell line in each vial of MMR-II. In addition to the human DNA, there is also an unspecified amount of human cellular debris in each dose of MMR-II,” the HHS secretary said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics refutes this assertion on its website, stating, “Vaccines do not contain fetal cells. Some vaccines involve growing viruses in human cell cultures originally developed from two aborted fetuses in the 1960s. These cell lines are still going, so no new aborted fetuses are ever needed. Purification processes filter the vaccine during production, and no fetal tissue remains.”
Kennedy continued, “During our phone conversation, Governor Shapiro also accused me of promoting vaccine misinformation. When I asked him for an example, he was unable to provide one, but this did not deter him from publicly repeating that accusation during his press event.”
RFK Jr. noted that he offered to point to “hundreds of instances” of vaccine misinformation from the Biden administration about which the governor remained quiet.
“Governor Shapiro also faulted me for the decline in Pennsylvania vaccination rates from 97% – 93.2%. When I pushed back on this assertion, he acknowledged that most of the decline occurred during the Biden administration. It’s unfortunately true that the government lockdowns, deceptions, manipulation, and overreach during Covid severely damaged public faith in the vaccine program,” Kennedy asserted.
RFK Jr. reveals Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro admitted the state’s major decline in measles vaccination rates happened under the Biden administration, not President Trump.
“He said to me, ‘Well, we’ve seen this big drop in vaccination rates in the state from 97 to 92.3.’”… pic.twitter.com/TcsWL2FQSS
— MAHA Action (@MAHA_Action) August 26, 2026
He concluded, “Governor Shapiro’s press conference was an example of the same species of gaslighting. The Trump administration is working to restore public trust not by gaslighting or manipulating, but by being truthful, at last, with the public.”
Kennedy pointed out at a news conference in Tampa, “Our advice is that people should get the measles vaccination,” adding, “There are certain communities and certain religious communities that do not want to do that, and we want to take care of those kids as well,” Politico reported. The MMR vaccine is among the 11 that HHS recommends children get.
Seemingly refuting Shapiro’s reports of two measles deaths in his state, Lancaster County coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said this week that “no measles deaths were handled by our office,” LancasterOnline.com reported.
County Commissioner Josh Parsons, who is a Republican, posted Wednesday on X, “Any deaths from measles are required by law to be reported to the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office. I have spoken at length with both a senior staff member from that office and the Coroner himself.”
This appears to be false information.
For the 1st case they are pointing to an infant that died WITH measles, but not FROM it. From our coroner:
“Lancaster County Coroner Steve Diamantoni said the cause of death was not from the measles. The newborn died shortly after birth… https://t.co/CYi0PVbI72
— Commissioner Josh Parsons (@CommissionerJP) August 27, 2026
Parsons continued, “They currently have zero measles deaths in Lancaster County. They have one death of a person who died WITH measles, but not from measles. We do not know if the state is counting that one. Nor do we know anything about the other death that officials reported yesterday.”
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
