Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been called the most unqualified health secretary in the history of the US. Before his confirmation, over 22,000 doctors signed a letter urging the Senate to reject his appointment. During the confirmation hearing, several senators grilled him on his concerning history related to vaccine misinformation: things like his founding of an anti-vax organization, his concerning anti-vax rhetoric, and his history of suing vaccine manufacturers, something he stands to make a lot of money doing.
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RFK Jr. is in charge of vaccines. What now?
The new US secretary of Health and Human Services has a long history of spreading misinformation about vaccines.
The former environmental lawyer was propelled to the nation’s highest health office largely by the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement, a play on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. As health secretary, Kennedy wants to solve the chronic disease epidemic in the US, which plenty of doctors can get behind. The issue is that he aims to do it at the expense of infectious disease research. Therein lies the problem. Most people can agree when he says things like, “I’m supportive of vaccines” and “I want good science.” The trouble is that his definition of “good” is, well — let’s call it historically shaky. In March, he appointed a well-known vaccine skeptic to head a study on the long-debunked potential link between vaccines and autism.
So what’s next? Can RFK Jr. take away vaccines that are already on the market? It’s unlikely, but he doesn’t need to. Kennedy sits at the helm of the very department he’s been undermining for years. In that position, the power he has over vaccine policy isn’t limitless, but the changes he can make could ripple for decades.
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