Through the looking glass: Will RFK Jr. be the next health secretary?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the federal government’s health bureaucracy, tried repeatedly to bat down accusations that he was anti-vaccine in a Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, a difficult task given a years-long lucrative career in which he has pursued lawsuits against vaccine rules, petitioned the government to revoke vaccine authorizations, published books replete with critical statements about vaccines, and founded a prominent anti-vaccine organization.

The hearing was contentious from the beginning, as Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, pointed out that Kennedy Jr. had earned “almost $5 million dollars from deals mostly to promote junk science.” Wyden quoted from a 2021 book from Kennedy Jr.’s organization with a forward from Kennedy Jr., The Measles Book, in which he wrote that parents had been “misled into believing that measles is a deadly disease and that measles vaccines are necessary, safe, and effective.” The question of how much Kennedy Jr. stood to earn as the nation’s chief health officer reverberated throughout the hearing.

“Are you supportive of these onesies?” Sen. Bernie Sanders demanded to know, pointing to pictures of baby clothing featuring slogans like “No Vax. No problem,” sold in Children’s Health Defense’s online store, an organization Kennedy Jr. founded and previously chaired. “You say you’re pro-vaccine … and yet your organization is making money selling a child’s product to parents, for 26 bucks, which casts fundamental doubt on the usefulness of vaccines.”

Sitting behind Kennedy Jr. during the hearing were his wife, Cheryl Hines, the Hollywood actress who recently capitalized on her husband’s nomination to sell beauty products, and a group of supporters called MAHA moms, a nickname for a group who believe Kennedy Jr. will “Make America Healthy Again.” The nominee has said he wants to refocus federal health efforts on combatting chronic diseases with links to factors such as diet and away from infectious diseases.

Public health advocates are deeply worried about how Kennedy Jr.’s possible ascension to the nation’s top health position would influence already worrisome trends in support for vaccination and state vaccine policy. Support for vaccination has dipped, especially among Republicans. And anti-vaccine activists have seen recent success in changing state-level policies by, for example, creating more loopholes to school vaccine requirements.

As health secretary, Kennedy Jr. would have some control over the government panels that approve vaccines for use or set the vaccine recommendations that influence childhood vaccine schedules, school vaccine requirements, and decisions about whether vaccines are covered by insurance.

He would also control the Vaccines for Children program, an $8 billion initiative that provides vaccines for some 38 million low-income children. The program provides vaccines for diseases such as polio, measles, chicken pox, and whooping cough.

And Kennedy Jr. would also get to wield government vaccine data in ways pro-vaccine advocates worry could negatively influence perceptions of vaccine safety. He could publish his anti-vaccine “conspiracy theories, but this time on US government letterhead,” as Sen. Elizabeth Warren said at the confirmation hearing.

“I support vaccines. I support the childhood schedule. The only thing I want is good science,” Kennedy Jr. told senators.

His past contains many reasons for public health advocates to doubt his claims.

“I do believe that autism does come from vaccines,” he told Fox News in 2023, despite many studies that show no such connection. He has claimed that vaccines aren’t responsible for reducing the number of polio cases, though case counts dropped precipitously following the first polio vaccines. During a time when thousands were dying each week in the United States from COVID-19, Kennedy Jr. petitioned the government to remove authorization for the vaccines, which are estimated to have saved millions of lives.

If confirmed, Kennedy Jr. will continue to receive money through sending referrals to a law firm that is litigating over Merck’s HPV vaccine, an arrangement that includes other legal matters and has made Kennedy Jr. $2.5 million in two years. The HPV vaccine is critical to preventing cervical cancer. A study found that when Japan stopped recommending the vaccine after some reported adverse reactions, vaccination rates plummeted. It’s estimated that the recommendation pause, which has been reversed, will cause thousands of deaths over time.

When asked by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, whether he would refuse to collect fees from suing drug companies like in the Merck HPV case, Kennedy Jr. ducked, saying, “I’ll commit to never taking fees from drug companies.” When pressed again, Kennedy Jr. continued to obfuscate, “I’m not going to agree to not sue drug companies.”

Throughout the hearing, Kennedy Jr. said his aim was to restore America’s health agencies to “the traditions of gold standard scientific research” and make America great and healthy again.  “I’m not a scientist,” Kennedy Jr. explained. “I want to empower scientists.” Some Republicans, at least, appeared satisfied that Kennedy Jr. had passed the confirmation hearing test. Sen. Mike Crapo, the Idaho Republican who chaired the hearing, told the nominee, “You’ve gone through the most thorough vetting process that any committee in this Congress puts anybody through, and I think that you have come through well and deserve to be confirmed.”

Getting Kennedy Jr. confirmed has been considered a real challenge for the Trump administration. Kennedy Jr.’s past, after all, is a far cry from that of a rock-ribbed Republican or MAGA diehard. He hails from one of America’s most storied Democratic dynasties; his uncle was President John F. Kennedy and his father was Robert F. Kennedy, the progressive presidential candidate gunned down in 1968. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a long-time environmental advocate, and, as Democratic senators were fond of pointing out Wednesday, he has repeatedly expressed strong support for abortion, even while campaigning for president in 2023.

“When was it that you decided to sell out the values you’ve had your whole life in order to be given power by President Trump?” Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, asked.

At his confirmation hearing, Kennedy Jr. tried mightily to blur any clear picture that might form from his record, particularly on vaccines. When asked if he was a conspiracy theorist, Kennedy Jr. gave a seemingly well-practiced reply that the title is a “pejorative,” saying, “Senator, that’s applied to me mainly to keep me from asking difficult questions of powerful interests.”

Even though he’s been a leader of the nation’s anti-vaccine movement, Kennedy Jr. told the Senate that he’s not anti-vaccine. And on a personal level, that appears to be the case.

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy’s letter to U. S. Senate on confirmation hearing of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. pic.twitter.com/nTdN2LACdY

— Caroline Kennedy (@CBKennedy) January 28, 2025

In a letter submitted to the Senate prior to the hearings, Kennedy Jr.’s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, called him a “predator,” claiming that he “preys on the desperation of parents of sick children—vaccinating his own children while building a following by hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs.”

As Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday, “All my kids are vaccinated.”