Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now claiming America’s public health agencies haven’t accomplished anything in decades—just days after declaring President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for Operation Warp Speed.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services’ whiplash moment came during a Sunday morning appearance on Fox & Friends, after he was asked to name the “greatest success” of U.S. public health institutions.
“Well I don’t think there have been successes,” Kennedy told co-host Charlie Hurt. “I think we’ve seen a 30 or 40 year decline in the agency, because it’s been infiltrated by the pharmaceutical companies.”
The notorious vaccine-skeptic went on to slam the country’s “series of bad [health] decisions,” including its handling of COVID-19— a response that came from Trump, whom he praised days earlier.
RFK Jr owns Trump: “Senators want to make a little speech and then shut me down, but they can’t deny the fact that we did worse in covid than any country in the world … we literally were the worst team in the league.” pic.twitter.com/jmcWPI4V52
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 7, 2025
“We did worse in COVID than any country in the world,” Kennedy said. “I’ve been brought in as the new manager and my job is to shake up the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], to fire the people who were responsible for masking our children with no science, for social distancing orders with no science…for all of the other things.”
Kennedy’s harsh criticism of Trump’s pandemic response directly contradicts what he said last Thursday while testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, where bipartisan lawmakers grilled him over his ousting of top leadership at the CDC and his department limiting access to the COVID vaccine.
During the hours-long questioning, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy asked the secretary to clarify his stance on Operation Warp Speed, Trump’s record-breaking vaccine rollout during the pandemic which has been touted as his signature first-term achievement.
“Do you agree with me that the president deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed?” Cassidy, a physician, asked.
“Yeah, absolutely, Senator,” Kennedy responded.
The GOP lawmaker then pointed out that under Kennedy, a conspiracy theorist with no background in science, the department canceled $500 million in contracts using the mRNA platform, which is used for the COVID vaccine developed with Operation Warp Speed.
He also noted Kennedy engaged in multiple lawsuits attempting to restrict access to the vaccine, adding “It surprises me that you think so highly of Operation Warp Speed when, as an attorney, you attempted to restrict access.”
Indeed, Kennedy has a long track record of waffling between praise and condemnation of Trump’s pandemic response — depending on who’s asking.
Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan also confronted Kennedy over his past attacks on Trump’s handling of COVID, citing an Instagram post from the failed presidential candidate where he called Trump weak.
“Operation Warp Speed and the lockdowns were the most devastating impact of President Trump’s weakness, but not the only one,” Kennedy wrote last June.
The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives for Kennedy and the White House for comment.
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