The secretary of health and human services and noted anti-vax conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just admitted that he doesn’t know how many Americans died from Covid-19.
On Thursday, Kennedy attended a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee and answered questions about the recent turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In June, Kennedy fired an entire vaccine supervisory panel and replaced them with vaccine critics—and in August, Kennedy pushed out the recently confirmed director, Susan Monarez, causing four high-ranking CDC officials to resign in protest.
But amid attempts to navigate thornier questions about the pharmaceutical industry and Medicaid cuts, Kennedy also seemed stumped by the basics.
“I want to go back to some basic facts,” said Senator Warner, a Democrat from Virginia. “Do you accept the fact that a million Americans died through Covid?”
“I don’t know how many died,” Kennedy replied.
Seemingly astounded, Warner questioned him again: “You’re the secretary of health and human services. You don’t have any idea how many Americans died from Covid?”
“I don’t think anybody knows, because there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC, and—”
“Sir, you don’t know the answer of how many Americans died from Covid.… Do you think the vaccine did anything to prevent additional deaths?” Warner continued.
“Again, I would like to see the data and talk about the data,” Kennedy said.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million Americans have died of Covid, which is probably the number that Warner was referring to, though it was unclear whether Kennedy wasn’t aware of this statistic or didn’t recognize the authority of the source.
President Donald Trump and Kennedy have both made references to insufficient data about the Covid-19 vaccine, as well. But hundreds of reports have tracked the efficacy of these vaccines since their release, and they’re estimated to have saved millions of lives—something that Kennedy would not admit, even when New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan brought the point up again.
Kennedy’s refusal to accept data-driven, evidence-based conclusions when they don’t align with his views was evident throughout the hearing—even as he repeatedly claimed that he was, in fact, “depoliticizing” science.
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