Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee for HHS secretary, begins his confirmation process today with hearings before the Senate Finance and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committees. Here's what to expect.
For many years, Kennedy has espoused a number of unconventional and unproven health claims, including that vaccines cause autism. Kennedy created and has been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by Children's Health Defense, a group that claims vaccines cause autism and other chronic diseases, and Kennedy himself has sued to take vaccines off the market.
Kennedy has also claimed that COVID-19 vaccines are the deadliest in history, that antidepressants lead children to commit mass shootings, environmental contaminants could cause people to become trans, and that HIV is not the only cause of AIDS.
In a book he cowrote in 2023, "Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak," as well on the Children's Health Defense website, Kennedy outlined a seven-step plan for vaccine safety, including requirements to report all adverse events, studies into what causes those events, and a reevaluation of older vaccines by federal experts.
During an interview with NPR, Kennedy said his priority is not to take vaccines away from anyone but to study vaccine safety.
"We are going to make sure that Americans have good information right now," Kennedy said. "The science on vaccine safety particularly has huge deficits, and we're going to make sure those scientific studies are done and that people can make informed choices about their vaccinations and their children's vaccinations."
In addition, Kennedy has pushed the use of products that many health regulators consider dangerous, like raw milk, and for the broader use of some medicines like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to treat conditions without FDA approval.
Kennedy has also expressed some potentially controversial ideas regarding drug prices and Medicaid. According to three people who spoke anonymously to Politico, in a closed-door meeting with Senate Finance Committee staffers, Kennedy expressed openness to authorize the government to seize the patents of high-priced medicines from drug manufacturers and share them with other drugmakers to lower costs.
Specifically, the approach — which has long been supported by Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and was tentatively supported by former President Joe Biden — would use executive authorities to take certain patents developed using taxpayer money and license them to manufacturers who could make and sell them for less.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who chairs the Senate HELP Committee, has previously said that such an approach would "kill American healthcare innovation and deny millions of Americans future lifesaving cures and treatments."
Katie Miller, a spokesperson for Kennedy, disputed Politico's report, calling it "an attempt to denigrate Bobby Kennedy" and a "smear campaign against Donald J. Trump."
Kennedy was also reportedly exploring a proposal that would minimize the role the American Medical Association plays in determining what Medicare pays for medical services.
According to Jay Richards, a senior fellow at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, Kennedy faces "a lot of organized opposition."
In December, 77 Nobel Prize winners signed a letter urging senators not to confirm Kennedy as HHS secretary, marking the first time in recent history that Nobel laureates have come together against a Cabinet pick. In addition, a group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence has criticized Kennedy for his views on abortion, psychedelics, and vaccines.
Brett Giroir, former assistant secretary for health under the first Trump administration, said he believes Kennedy's path to confirmation could hinge on whether senators believe that he has "moderated" his views on vaccines.
"Vaccination is one of the cornerstones of public health," Giroir said. "His reliance on pseudoscience or quasi-science to form his opinions needs to be changed."
For her part, Sen. Warren included 16 questions on immunization in a letter ahead of the hearings, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has also expressed concerns about Kennedy's views on vaccines.
It's also believed that Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) could oppose Kennedy's nomination based on their opposition to Pete Hegseth, who was recently confirmed as Secretary of Defense, KFF Health News reports. Sen. Cassidy's vote is also potentially in question after he gave a lukewarm response after meeting Kennedy.
However, some reports suggest that Sen. Cory Book (D-N.J.), who agrees with Kennedy's concerns about the spread of obesity and chronic illness, as well as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who attended law school with Kennedy, could vote for him.
Following Hegseth's confirmation as Defense secretary, a number of Washington observers believe Kennedy is likely to be confirmed, KFF Health News reports. According to Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital Philadelphia, in a meeting on Capitol Hill with Democratic senators and their aides last week, "the feeling was that he would likely be confirmed."
(Allen, KFF Health News, 1/28; Stone, "Shots," NPR, 1/28; Zhang/Owermohle, STAT+ [subscription required], 1/28; Cai/Cancryn, Politico, 1/27)
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