From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez says HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promotion of vaccine skepticism and rollback of childhood vaccine recommendations will lead to more unnecessary deaths.
Rodriguez spoke with public health advocates and fellow Dem candidates on a call criticizing Kennedy for undermining public health and turnover. The call was hosted by Protect Our Care and 314 Action, a group dedicated to elected Democratic scientists that has endorsed Rodriguez’s guv bid.
Yesterday’s call came a day after Kennedy joined U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, for a roundtable at a dairy farm in Elk Mound.
Rodriguez is a nurse and former CDC epidemic intelligence officer. She said she’s heard about the impact of Kennedy’s tenure while speaking to voters, such as a family doctor who has to spend more time telling families why vaccines are safe and why children need them.
She also pointed to the rise in measles cases nationally, noting every Wisconsinite who contracted the virus last year was unvaccinated.
“That’s not bad luck, that is a choice that somebody is making in Washington to put our kids and our families at risk. And back home here in Wisconsin, the man who wants to be Wisconsin’s next governor cheered that choice on,” Rodriguez said.
A spokesperson for the campaign of GOP guv candidate Tom Tiffany, who represents northern Wisconsin’s 7th CD, did not return a request for comment on Rodriguez’s remarks.
So far this year, there have been 1,983 confirmed cases of measles nationally, compared to 2,288 in all of 2025, according to CDC data. Of this year’s cases, 92% were either vaccinated or of unknown status. In Wisconsin, there have been 2 confirmed cases this year compared to 36 last year, according to Department of Health Services data.
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