Washington - Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy's comments were in response to Rep. Mark Pocan at the House Appropriations Committee hearing.

In a measles outbreak in western Texas and other parts of the United States, killing two children, an adult (all uninoculated) - Kennedy pushed for unproven treatments, including a steroid called Budesnead, a steroid called antibiotics called clarithromycin and cod liver oil, a supplement.

Experts say none of them proved to be a treatment for measles. High doses of vitamin A can cause nausea, vomiting and liver damage, especially in children.

Kennedy sometimes provides mild support for measles-a girl vaccines, but often undermines that information with false claims about harm and lack of long-term protection.

Kennedy told Pocan he might “probably” vaccinate his kids with measles today, but added: “What I think about the vaccine doesn’t matter.”

Pokan then asked Kennedy if he would vaccinate children with chickenpox and polio today.

Kennedy declined to answer, saying, “I don’t want to give advice.”

Kennedy's kids get vaccinated - He had said before that it was a decision he regretted.

Doctors widely believe that all three vaccines are safe and effective.

In her bankruptcy speech, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn) was a member of the ranking committee.

"You are the secretary of HHS. You have tremendous power over health policy," she said. "It's really horrible, you won't encourage families to vaccinate children, measles, chickenpox, polio. Vaccines are one of the foundations of public health. Vaccines, yes, the fact that the Minister of Vaccines refuses to encourage children to get vaccinated is a tragedy."

House hearings began a controversial day for Kennedy after HHS budget cuts and massive layoffs. Kennedy is expected to testify in the afternoon on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee.

During a hearing Wednesday morning, Kennedy defended the U.S. response to the measles outbreak, saying the agency did better than other countries.

He noted that Mexico, Canada and Western Europe have higher measles rates per capita.

“Mexico is roughly the same as one third of our population,” he said.

So far this year, there have been more than 1,000 cases of measles in the United States. In 2000, measles was declared eliminated from the country. The only year since then was 2019.

Experts say the numbers are likely to be an underestimation, as many cases are likely to be unreported.