RFK Jr. Could Still Stand To Profit From Anti-Vaccine Litigation Even If He Leads HHS
Ahead of RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearings next week, his ethics filings reveal massive conflicts of interest. RFK Jr. could still stand to profit from his anti-vaccine lawsuits, according to his financial disclosures. If confirmed, Kennedy will keep receiving a referral fee from law firm WisnerBaum, a self-proclaimed “leader in the Gardasil injury litigation” against Merck. As Secretary of HHS, RFK Jr. would have direct influence over the approval and recommendation of vaccines, including Gardasil, as well as administer the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which has covered several of his previous vaccine cases.
RFK Jr. has spent years cashing in on dangerous anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. Kennedy has fueled disinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccinations that have had deadly consequences. He has been a leading anti-vaccine voice for decades, spreading false information about vaccines and autism that led to a full-blown measles outbreak in Samoa that killed 83 people, primarily infants and children. At HHS, RFK Jr.’s sole focus will be pushing these radical policies that put health care for millions at risk. Under his leadership, more people will get sick and more people will die.
HEADLINES
Bloomberg: RFK Jr. Profited From Lawsuits Against Agency He’s Poised to Lead.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earned millions from his work as an attorney, including referral fees from cases filed against the agency he’s been chosen to lead, federal disclosures show.
- Additionally, he was paid more than $850,000 over the same period for cases he referred to Wisner Baum, a national personal injury firm that’s made claims against an HHS-managed program to compensate people injured by vaccines.
New York Times: Kennedy Would Keep Stake in HPV Vaccine Suit if Confirmed.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick to be health secretary, is keeping his financial stake in major litigation against Merck over a widely used vaccine given to young people, according to an ethics agreement made public on Wednesday and court documents. That conflict of interest could raise questions for lawmakers as Mr. Kennedy aims to run agencies that regulate the drugmaker.
Inside Philanthropy: Who’s Had RFK Jr.’s Back as a Nonprofit Antivax Advocate?
- Brad Woodhouse heads Protect Our Care, a health advocacy organization that has spoken out against Kennedy’s appointment. Woodhouse, for one, doesn’t believe there is any way Kennedy can credibly separate himself from his antivax positions. “He’s trying to say, ‘I’m not antivaccine, I’m pro-science,’” Woodhouse said. “Excuse my language, but that is complete and utter bullshit. He has bragged about how he has accosted parents out on hiking trails, he sees them pushing a stroller, and he says, ‘Don’t vaccinate your baby.’ He doesn’t say, ‘Ask your pediatrician questions’ or ‘go read up on the side effects.’ He says, ‘Don’t vaccinate your child.’ And he has said that there is no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Woodhouse calls Kennedy “an existential threat,” and fears what will happen if he is put in charge of the nation’s largest health agency. “People will die,” he said. To underscore the point, Woodhouse pointed to what happened in Samoa. Protect Our Care has teamed up with the group 314 Action to amplify Kennedy’s role in a measles outbreak there in 2019.
NPR: RFK Jr. Plans to Keep a Financial Stake in Lawsuits Against the Drugmaker Merck.
- “RFK Jr’s ethics agreement is inadequate because it doesn’t address the bias created by his continuing financial interest in the litigation against Merck,” Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in government ethics wrote to NPR.
Boston Globe: Ahead of Confirmation Fight, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Discloses Complex Financial Arrangements.
- The disclosures show how Kennedy has made money from his deep ties to the world of anti-vaccine activism and criticism of public health officials, as well as his more recent political career.
- But Kennedy made clear he maintains a stake in cases brought by the law firm WisnerBaum, which is bringing the Gardasil lawsuit, as long as they don’t involve the U.S. government.
CNN: RFK Jr. Intends to Keep Financial Interest in Some Lawsuits Brought by Firm That Challenges Pharmaceutical Companies.
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – the vaccine skeptic President Donald Trump has nominated to serve as Health and Human Services secretary – plans to retain his financial interest in some litigation brought by Wisner Baum, a law firm whose specialties include pursuing pharmaceutical drug injury cases.
AP News: RFK Jr. Says He’s Resigned From Anti-vaccine Nonprofit as He Seeks Nation’s Top Health Official Job.
- But he will still benefit in other ways from his anti-vaccine advocacy, which has spanned several years. Compensation will continue to flow into Kennedy’s bank accounts from referral fees for legal cases that don’t involve the U.S. government, including fees he collects from a law firm that’s sued Merck over Gardasil, its human papillomavirus vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. Last year, he made over $850,000 from the arrangement.
Axios: RFK Jr. Earned Millions From Law Work, Book Deals.
- HHS Secretary designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earned $326,000 from the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense and a $100,000 licensing fee for use of the Make America Healthy Again brand, according to financial disclosure forms posted by the Office of Government Ethics.
- Why it matters: The forms offer a detailed picture into Kennedy’s extensive financial holdings and how he’d resolve potential conflicts of interest if he’s confirmed.
ABC: RFK Jr. Reports Up to $1.2m in Credit Card Debt, $30M Net Worth.
- His main source of income from the past year stemmed from hefty referral fees from multiple law firms, arrangements which Kennedy noted in his ethics agreement that he will terminate upon his confirmation. However, he stated he plans to retain a contingency fee interest in cases that do not involve the U.S. government. In his ethics agreement, Kennedy disclosed that among the cases he has referred to the Wisner Baum law firm are claims filed under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), from which he said he will divest his interest.
The Hill: RFK Jr. Releases Financial Disclosure.
- But Kennedy will continue to receive fees from a law firm currently suing American pharmaceutical company Merck. The prominent anti-vaccine proponent was co-counsel with the law firm Wisner Baum in suing Merck over allegations that Gardasil caused life-altering injury to young men and women. In his letter to Hall, Kennedy said he was “entitled to receive 10% of fees awarded in contingency fee cases referred to the [Wisner Baum].”