This week marks the beginning of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Just one week in, Kennedy has already begun enacting some of the most radical parts of his health agenda, blatantly ignoring promises he made to on-the-fence Senators to maintain existing vaccine protocols and trust scientists and experts.
Just this week, he announced that he would investigate the childhood vaccination schedule, end the CDC’s successful campaign promoting the flu vaccine, scrutinize childhood use of antidepressants, stimulants and other common psychiatric drugs, end recognition of transgender Americans, and even kill NIH climate change programs, turning his back on a decades-long legal career as an environmental advocate. Meanwhile, as Kennedy abandons gold-standard practices and longstanding health protocols and focuses on fringe policies, Texans face a rapidly expanding measles outbreak, bird flu continues to spread and evolve across the country, and Americans are facing their worst flu season in 15 years. Even as the threat from these infectious diseases escalates, Kennedy has stuck to his word and turned his back on public health – and this is only the beginning.
What RFK Has Done
Associated Press: Kennedy Says Panel Will Examine Childhood Vaccine Schedule After Promising Not To Change It.
- “To earn the vote he needed to become the nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a special promise to a U.S. senator: He would not change the nation’s current vaccination schedule. But on Tuesday, speaking for the first time to thousands of U.S. Health and Human Services agency employees, he vowed to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule that prevents measles, polio and other dangerous diseases. ‘Nothing is going to be off limits,’ Kennedy said, adding that pesticides, food additives, microplastics, antidepressants and the electromagnetic waves emitted by cellphones and microwaves also would be studied. Kennedy’s remarks, which circulated on social media, were delivered during a welcome ceremony for the new health secretary at the agency’s headquarters in Washington as a measles outbreak among mostly unvaccinated people raged in West Texas. The event was held after a weekend of mass firings of thousands of HHS employees. More dismissals are expected.”
Stat: HHS orders CDC to halt some vaccine ads, saying RFK Jr. wants message focused on ‘informed consent’
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ordered to shelve promotions it developed for a variety of vaccines, including a “Wild to Mild” advertising campaign urging people to get vaccinated against flu, two sources familiar with the decision told STAT. The Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for public affairs informed the CDC that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wanted advertisements that promote the idea of “informed consent” in vaccine decision-making instead. Informed consent is the principle that people should be notified of all the risks, as well as benefits, of any medical intervention they receive or any drug they are prescribed. It is a cornerstone of health care delivery. Shifting the framing of advertising for vaccines that the CDC has long recommended — like flu shots — to more heavily focus on the risks of vaccines could undermine people’s willingness to get vaccinated, or to have their children immunized.
Axios: HHS Postpones First Vaccine Advisory Meeting of RFK Era.
- “The first CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as HHS secretary has been indefinitely postponed, the department confirmed. Why it matters: The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, offers guidance on vaccine approvals and influences which shots insurers cover.”
- “The big picture: ACIP meetings have been rescheduled under previous administrations, but the delay throws into question whether the Trump administration will follow precedent with a leading vaccine critic at the helm of the federal health department. An agenda for the meeting, which was scheduled for Feb. 26-28, included discussions about vaccines for COVID-19, meningococcal virus, influenza, RSV, HPV and mpox. Catch up quick: Earlier this week, Kennedy said in an address to HHS staff that “nothing is off limits” in examining the causes of chronic disease, including examining childhood vaccine schedules.”
Washington Post: Trump Casts Psychiatric and Weight-Loss Drugs as Threats to Children.
- “President Donald Trump has instructed his administration to scrutinize the ‘threat’ to children posed by antidepressants, stimulants and other common psychiatric drugs, targeting medication taken by millions in his latest challenge to long-standing medical practices. The directive came in an executive order Thursday that established a ‘Make America Healthy Again’ commission led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has criticized the use of those drugs and issued false claims about them. The order said the commission should prepare a ‘Make Our Children Healthy Again’ assessment within 100 days that examines ‘the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and weight-loss drugs.’ The directive comes as children and teens endure a mental health crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Kennedy also has made childhood nutrition and healthful food a signature issue. He has been critical of the boom in weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjaro.”
Mother Jones: RFK Jr., Onetime Environmentalist, Kills NIH Climate Change Programs.
- “In 1999, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then an environmental lawyer, was named by Time magazine as a ‘hero of the planet’ for his pioneering work to clean up America’s waterways. On February 14 of this year, his second day as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, he ended HHS funding for climate change and health programs at the National Institutes of Health, a move that will likely terminate this work. That day, Ken Callahan, a senior adviser for policy and implementation in the Immediate Office of the Secretary for HHS, sent an email to Dr. Matthew Memoli, the acting director of NIH, noting that HHS would no longer support three programs run by the agency: the Climate Change and Health Initiative, the Climate Change and Health Research Coordinating Center, and the Climate and Health Scholars Program.”
New York Times: Citing ‘Biological Truth,’ Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes.
- “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration had adopted a set of official government ‘sex-based definitions’ to give the public and federal agencies precise terms with which to describe categories including ‘male,’ ‘female,’ ‘woman’ and ‘man.’ The definitions are listed in a one-page ‘guidance’ that is aimed, in part, at keeping transgender women and girls out of female sports, discouraging gender-affirming care for young people and fulfilling President Trump’s pledge that the federal government will recognize only two sexes: male and female. ‘This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government,’ Mr. Kennedy said in a statement. ‘The prior administration’s policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.’’
Politico: RFK Jr. Prepares Shake-Up Of Vaccine Advisers.
- “HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is preparing to remove members of the outside committees that advise the federal government on vaccine approvals and other key public health decisions, according to two people familiar with the planning. Kennedy plans to replace members who he perceives to have conflicts of interest, as part of a widespread effort to minimize what he’s criticized as undue industry influence over the nation’s health agencies, said one of the people, who were granted anonymity to speak freely.”
Rising Public Health Threats
Axios: U.S. Facing Worst Flu Season Since 2009, Experts Say.
- “The worst flu season in 15 years has left hundreds of thousands of Americans hospitalized while straining physicians’ offices and emergency departments. Why it matters: The virus is causing more severe complications and hitting young children especially hard. “The two predominant strains that are circulating right now are known to be more severe and have more severe outcomes, especially in high-risk patients,” said Carol McLay, president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. ‘It’s really clogging up our ERs and our outpatient facilities. And for the first time, we’ve seen cases of influenza that have surpassed COVID-19 in hospitalizations and deaths, since the COVID pandemic began,’ she said. By the numbers: This flu season is classified as a “high-severity” season, with estimates of at least 29 million cases, the most since the 2009-2010 flu season, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.”
CNN: West Texas Measles Outbreak Doubles to 48 Cases.
- “The measles outbreak first reported in Gaines County, Texas, has doubled to 48 cases since a count released earlier this week, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Friday. The first two cases were identified in late January, and the numbers have been rising since. Forty-two cases are reported in Gaines County. Surrounding counties have also reported cases, three in Terry County, two in Yoakum County and one in Lynn County. With the contagious nature of the disease, the state health department says it expects that more cases will be reported in Gaines County and the surrounding areas. All of the cases are in unvaccinated people or those who have unknown vaccination status. Most cases are in children 5 to 17 years old. All experienced an onset of symptoms in the past three weeks. Among the 48 cases, 13 have been hospitalized. Two measles cases were also reported in bordering Lea County, New Mexico, on Friday, bringing the total there this week to three. The first case involved an unvaccinated teenager, and the vaccination status in the other cases is unknown.”
The Hill: Trump Moves Hamper Bird Flu Response As Egg Prices Spike.
- “The Trump administration’s efforts to impose its will on the federal workforce through mass firings, funding freezes and communication blackouts is hampering the ability of public health professionals to respond to the growing threat of avian flu. As egg prices continue to rise and more cases are detected, state and local health officials say there is no clear plan of action from the administration. Dozens of people in the U.S. have also contracted the disease, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting the first human death from H5N1 last month.”