Austin’s Del Bigtree says kids should catch measles, polio

Del Bigtree, an Austin-based anti-vaccine advocate and media personality with deep ties to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said in a recent interview that he wants his children — and others — to contract vaccine-preventable diseases including measles and polio.

In an interview with The Atlantic, Bigtree said he is “genuinely upset” when children are vaccinated because it reduces the likelihood that his own children will catch viruses such as chicken pox and measles. He said he believes children’s health “depends on them catching those live viruses.”

Bigtree referred to measles and polio by name and said he would like his teenage son to contract those illnesses. He also indicated he had considered driving his unvaccinated family to South Carolina amid a historic measles outbreak so they could be exposed to the virus.

He said infection would give children the “Ferrari of immunity.” 

Public health officials have consistently said vaccination is the safest and most effective way to prevent the spread of measles, polio and other infectious diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends routine childhood immunizations, including the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

Much of Bigtree’s advocacy work is based in Austin, where he has lived since 2019. 

“I ran from California. I didn’t like the laws in California. I didn’t like the forced vaccination laws, especially for my kids,” Bigtree told the American-Statesman. “So I came to Austin, where children are still free.”

He founded the Informed Consent Action Network, or ICAN, one of the country’s most prominent anti-vaccine organizations. The nonprofit is headquartered on Lavaca Street in downtown Austin and has filed lawsuits across the country related to vaccine restrictions, such as seeking to overturn school vaccine mandates.

ICAN is tied to a political arm, ICAN Legislate, which focuses on legislative advocacy and is also based in Austin on Guadalupe Street.

Bigtree has been a close ally of Kennedy, who now serves as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

He previously served as communications director during Kennedy’s 2024 presidential campaign and was the initial CEO of the nonprofit that promoted the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

According to The Atlantic, Bigtree’s views reportedly contributed to his exit from formal leadership within the MAHA movement. Notably, Bigtree said he decided to leave his position after an exchange in which Kennedy stated that the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine. He responded that it was also “one of the most effective ways to cause autism.”

Extensive scientific research has found no link between vaccines and autism. The claim originated from a now-retracted study published in 1998 and has been repeatedly debunked by major medical organizations.

Despite tensions, The Atlantic reported that Kennedy and Bigtree had dinner together late last year, and Bigtree was a featured speaker at the Children’s Health Defense annual meeting last fall. Children’s Health Defense is the anti-vaccine nonprofit founded by Kennedy.

When asked how his views align with Kennedy’s, Bigtree told the magazine, “He recognizes the same thing I do,” adding, “We would be healthier if we were catching these illnesses.”

Bigtree also outlined goals he believes the anti-vaccine movement should pursue.

Those include reducing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of recommended childhood vaccines, revisiting federal laws that limit pharmaceutical companies’ liability for vaccine injuries, and conducting a federal study comparing the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

“I believe this vaccine program is one of the most dangerous things that the government has ever done to children, and it is being forced on the American population,” Bigtree told the Statesman.

Bigtree spoke directly to the reporting by the Atlantic, saying that what it misrepresented is that his anti-vaccination stance is rooted in freedom.

“I would never force-vaccinate everybody. I’m never going to take your vaccines away. This is a free country,” Bigtree said. “If you believe in vaccines, go right ahead. In fact, if you’re passionate about it, bring it over here, and I’ll jam one and, you know, stick it into you myself. I will fight for your freedom and your right to vaccinate.

“What I do not believe in is that your belief in vaccines can override my belief in national immunity. You’re not allowed to inject my kids because you believe in something. If I don’t control my body, if the government can forcibly inject me with, at that point, a totally experimental product—then I am property of the United States of America,” Bigtree added. “You cannot call yourself a free citizen. “

He likened forced vaccinations to giving people the same rights as “farm animals.” 

Bigtree also said he described the pertussis, or whooping cough, vaccine as a “crime against children,” because he believes vaccines that don’t stop the transmission of the disease are causing harm, and hurting the ability to achieve herd immunity.

“There’s nothing worse for herd immunity than people [who] are sick and don’t know it,” he said, seemingly suggesting that those who are vaccinated could still get sick and infect others. 

Bigtree distrusted the COVID-19 vaccine to such a degree that he traveled to Mexico in 2021 to receive a transfusion of unvaccinated blood while being treated for severe anemia. 

Bigtree does not have formal medical training. Public health experts warn that declining vaccination rates can lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases, including measles and whooping cough, particularly among children and immunocompromised individuals.

He told The Atlantic that he would prefer to live in a country where no one is vaccinated.