“Take the vaccine, please.”

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Why has Dr. Oz suddenly decided to urge Americans to get vaccinated now, instead of within an earlier timeframe over the last year? In what context was Dr. Oz compelled to recommend the measles vaccine?

Many of Dr. Oz and the MAHA movement's supporters are wondering if this news suddenly makes Dr. Oz a "pro-vaccine" figurehead. Continue reading to learn more about Dr. Oz's recommendation and the fallout of the news since he made those comments.

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Serving in the capacity of the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. Oz appeared on CNN's State of the Union program on Feb. 8 to urge Americans to get vaccinated amid "skyrocketing measles cases" in the U.S.

“Take the vaccine, please. We have a solution for a problem,” Dr. Oz said on the CNN show. "Not all illnesses are equally dangerous, and not all people are equally susceptible to those illnesses, but measles is one [where] you should get your vaccine."

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "Measles Vaccination" webpage, two vaccines are available to protect against measles, mumps, and rubella: the MMR vaccine, of which two varieties are recommended (M-M-R II and PRIORIX), and MMRV, which also protects against varicella (chickenpox).

The MMRV vaccine is only licensed for use in children aged 12 months through 12 years, per the CDC.

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As CNN journalist Dana Bush pointed out to Dr. Oz, the Trump Administration's leaders have publicly been decidedly anti-vaccination. Bush referenced the current outbreak in South Carolina, which marks the worst outbreak since measles was actually declared to be eliminated in the U.S. in the year 2000.

Per a report in PEOPLE, at least 19 South Carolinians have been hospitalized, and more than 900 people have been affected by the ongoing outbreaks.

It does appear that Dr. Oz's comments on Feb. 8 are at odds with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s frequent comments denigrating vaccines and relying on bad science to claim a link exists between vaccinations and cases of autism.

In fact, before the end of 2025, the CDC website's Autism and Vaccines webpage was updated to reflect RFK's anti-science ethos.

So, is Dr. Oz pro-vaccine? As a research article in the Journal of Communication attests, Dr. Oz's public comments often conflict with his actions. To wit: "Oz, for example, took the COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021...Yet, in April 2020, he also touted drug hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment, a conclusion unsupported by clinical trial data."

The researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center also noted that Dr. Oz "endorsed the MMR vaccine on a March 2019 episode of The Dr. Oz Show."