How RFK Jr. Is Already Undermining Vaccines Under Trump

During his confirmation hearing to become secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to distance himself from his notorious reputation as the country’s most infamous anti-vaxxer.

He said he supported the measles vaccine, despite writing in a 2021 book that Americans had been “misled” into “believing that measles is a deadly disease and that measles vaccines are necessary, safe, and effective.” He promised to support the childhood vaccine schedule, despite casting doubt on the long-term safety of that schedule in his 2023 book.

“I believe that vaccines play a critical role in healthcare,” Kennedy said. “All of my kids are vaccinated.”

Kennedy’s doublespeak was at least enough to land him the job. Now that he’s in it, though, Kennedy has continued apace with his just-asking-questions approach to undermining vaccination in America. Kennedy’s attacks on vaccines were apparently so swift and so disruptive that in late March, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official quit the agency in a fiery resignation letter. “This man doesn’t care about the truth. He cares about what is making him followers,” Dr. Peter Marks wrote to the FDA’s acting commissioner.

Here’s a look at just some of the ways Kennedy is eroding vaccine trust from inside the government.

Reviewing the childhood vaccine schedule

Less than a week after his confirmation hearing, Kennedy delivered a speech to HHS staff in which he announced his department would investigate childhood vaccinations as part of a newly formed commission that President Trump created through an executive order. That commission, Kennedy said, would look into issues that “were formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized,” according to The New York Times. “Nothing is going to be off limits,” Kennedy reportedly said.

Kennedy is also reportedly considering removing the CDC’s COVID-19 recommendation for children, though an HHS spokesperson told Politico last month that “no final decision has been made.”

Appointing an anti-vaxxer to lead a study on autism

As HHS secretary, Kennedy has sought to discredit research from the Centers for Disease Control, which found that increases in autism diagnoses are largely due to broader screening and identification of people in “previously underidentified groups.” Instead, Kennedy claimed that “environmental” factors were to blame for this “epidemic” and commissioned a study to determine those supposed root causes.

The tell is in who he tapped to lead the study: anti-vaxx researcher David Geier. Geier, who was once charged with operating without a medical license, has written extensively about the supposed link between vaccines and autism, which has been repeatedly debunked. Kennedy, who is reportedly planning a national registry of autistic people as part of this research, has said he plans to have the initial results of the study by September.

Cutting resources for vaccination

In late March, the CDC withdrew $11.4 billion in funds for state and community health programs. That included roughly $2 billion in grants for “Immunization and Vaccines for Children,” according to NBC News. Staffing cuts across HHS, meanwhile, have hit vaccination programs hard, including in Texas, which has been at the center of the measles outbreak.

On the other end of the spectrum, Kennedy has thwarted efforts to limit vaccine hesitancy. The National Institutes of Health has terminated dozens of research grants focused on vaccine hesitancy, according to Science. A letter sent to grant awardees reportedly stated, “It is the policy of NIH not to prioritize research activities that focus on gaining scientific knowledge on why individuals are hesitant to be vaccinated and/or explore ways to improve vaccine interest and commitment.”

Mixed messaging on measles vaccination

As the measles crisis in Texas grew, Kennedy acknowledged on social media that “The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.” But that was only after he confused the message in a Fox News interview, saying that it was difficult for measles to kill healthy people and suggested that poor nutrition and exercise contributed to the outbreak in Texas. He also claimed—against evidence—that “natural immunity” to measles may be more beneficial than vaccination and that cod liver oil was among the natural treatments delivering “very, very good results.”

Pushing changes to vaccine testing

Just last week, HHS announced that all new vaccines would need to undergo placebo testing, which a spokesperson for the department told The Washington Post was “a radical departure from past practices.” Which is true—but with good reason. Vaccines that have been around for a while—including COVID-19 boosters—are often not tested against placebos, in part because that would require depriving a subset of trial patients of a vaccine that’s known to treat a deadly disease. Now, public health experts worry that Kennedy’s new mandate, the details of which are still hazy, could stand in the way of the release of Covid boosters in the fall.

“You are watching the gradual dissolution of the vaccine infrastructure in this country,” Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told The Post. “The goal is to make vaccines less available and less affordable.”

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