RFK Jr. Refused Repeatedly to Acknowledge That Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism and Failed to Answer Basic Questions About America’s Health Care System
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had another disastrous confirmation hearing yesterday, and now his nomination to serve as Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) is in deep jeopardy. Before the Senate HELP Committee, RFK Jr. refused multiple times to acknowledge that vaccines do not cause autism, opting instead to prey on the fears of parents and families. He also failed to answer basic questions about our health care system and programs like Medicare, further proving his complete lack of qualifications to lead HHS. He even lied about his own past claims that Lyme disease was “highly likely” created as a military bioweapon. His two confirmation hearings this week have only made it more clear that Kennedy’s nomination poses a grave threat to the health and well-being of the American people.
IN THE NEWS:
Washington Post: RFK Jr. Tries to Convince Skeptical Senators That He Won’t Undermine Vaccines.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday struggled to answer questions about Medicare, refused to rule out a debunked link between autism and vaccines, and said he would entertain conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in a second day of hearings as he tries to convince the Senate to confirm him as the nation’s top health official.”
Politico: Bill Cassidy Offered RFK Jr. An Out. He Didn’t Take It.
- “If Kennedy were to pursue even a fraction of the policy agenda he espoused as an activist — before Trump named him to lead HHS in November after winning the election, which was preceded by Kennedy dropping his own presidential bid and endorsing Trump — it would upend HHS and the public health system.”
- “‘Our expectations for RFK Jr. were already on the floor, but he showed all of America today why his nomination poses a grave threat to Americans’ health and well-being,’ said Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Democratically aligned Protect Our Care, an advocacy group that has spent more than $1 million campaigning against Kennedy’s confirmation.”
The Hill: GOP Chair ‘Struggling’ With RFK Jr. Nomination After Hearing.
- “Senate Health Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said at the end of Thursday’s hearing he is ‘struggling’ with whether to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary. Cassidy, a physician, pleaded multiple times for Kennedy to publicly declare that vaccines don’t cause autism. ‘That would have an incredible impact,’ Cassidy said. But Kennedy wouldn’t do it, saying only that if the evidence proved otherwise, he would apologize for past comments suggesting a link. Cassidy noted Kennedy has a ‘megaphone’ and chastised him for using it to sow doubt about vaccines. ‘A worthy movement called MAHA,’ Cassidy told Kennedy at the conclusion of the three-hour hearing. ‘To improve the health of Americans, or to undermine it, always asking for more evidence, never accepting the evidence that is there? That is why I have been struggling with your nomination.’”
Mother Jones: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Is Trying to Hide Who He Is.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings to become Secretary of Health and Human Services could have been a window into Kennedy’s beliefs and how he’d run one of the largest departments in the U.S. government. Instead, Kennedy spent much of the two days he was questioned before two different Senate committees denying his past comments, obfuscating his long record as an anti-vaccine activist, and, in some cases, flatly denying things he’s previously said publicly.”
STAT: At Confirmation Hearing, RFK Jr. Refuses To Say That Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refused to confirm to senators that he believes vaccines do not cause autism during his confirmation hearing Thursday. … There are more than a dozen studies showing that vaccination is not associated with autism, including studies specifically focused on the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine; studies focused on the mercury-containing ingredient thimerosal; and studies focused on the question of whether getting too many vaccines results in a higher risk of autism. All of them show that the shots do not increase rates of autism.”
Los Angeles Times: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Refuses To Reject Falsehoods About Vaccines And Autism In Confirmation Hearing.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s long record of questioning the safety of childhood vaccinations persisted as a flash point for him Thursday during a confirmation hearing where a key Republican quickly raised concerns about his views. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, opened the hearing with tough questions for Kennedy. He asked him to reject a long-discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. Kennedy refused to flatly do so.”
CNBC: RFK Jr. Stumbles Over Basics of Medicare, Medicaid During Senate Confirmation Hearings.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, appeared to be unfamiliar with fundamental elements of the Medicare and Medicaid programs Thursday during his second Senate confirmation hearing. … he struggled to identify and explain the fundamental aspects of [Medicare], which provides coverage to older and disabled Americans.”
ABC News: Kennedy Stumbles Over Medicare Questions.
- “Kennedy incorrectly said Medicare Part A was mainly for primary care or physicians. In fact, Medicare A covers inpatient care in hospitals, critical access hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. He failed to describe what Medicare Part B is, which covers medically necessary services and supplies, and preventive services.”
The New York Times: Is the HPV Vaccine Safe? Yes, Despite Kennedy’s Criticisms.
- “Amid a tense line of questioning during the first day of confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would keep his financial stake in pending litigation centered on Gardasil, a vaccine meant to prevent cervical cancer, which can be caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV. On Thursday, under questioning by Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, Mr. Kennedy declined to disavow comments he had made disparaging the vaccine as unsafe and as something that no parent should give to a child. (Unexpectedly, he also seemed to assert that he had surrendered his financial stake in the litigation.) Mr. Kennedy has often singled out Gardasil in his critiques of vaccines, suggesting that its ingredients increase the risk of cancer, lead to autoimmune conditions and may be responsible for a rise in mental illness. The Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit co-founded by Mr. Kennedy, called the vaccine ‘one of the most dangerous vaccines ever approved.’”
- “But the vaccine is also remarkably effective at preventing cancer — roughly 97 percent effective in preventing cervical cancer, and nearly 100 percent effective in preventing external genital warts. […] But current studies show that HPV vaccines cause ‘no increased risk’ of chronic fatigue syndrome and do ‘not support a causal link’ between Gardasil and POTS.”
Healthcare Dive: RFK Jr. Fumbles Medicare Basics During Second Confirmation Hearing.
- “It’s the second time in two days that Kennedy has appeared confused about the massive insurance program, which covers more than 66 million Americans. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, Kennedy also fumbled questions about Medicaid. He incorrectly stated the safety-net program was fully funded by the federal government — although he acknowledged his mistake during Thursday’s hearing.If confirmed, Kennedy would oversee the department that includes the CMS, which provides coverage to 160 million people with Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Affordable Care Act exchanges.”
MedPage Today: RFK Jr. Wrong on Medicare, Medicaid During Senate Confirmation Hearing.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday revealed a concerning lack of knowledge about the major health programs he’d oversee, should he be confirmed as HHS secretary. On several occasions during the 3.5-hour hearing, Kennedy seemed to conflate Medicare, Medicaid, and Medicare Advantage, and appeared to mistakenly refer to the Affordable Care Act health exchanges.”
Scripps News: RFK Jr. Senate Hearings Conclude As Future Of His Confirmation Remains Uncertain.
- “Kennedy, appearing Thursday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee was again pressed on his stances — some controversial — particularly regarding things like vaccines and vaccine efficacy. While much of the criticism Thursday came from Democrats, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy — who is chairman of the committee and a physician — also took aim at Kennedy’s past statements. He brought up a personal story about a young woman who was experiencing liver failure from a hepatitis infection, and partially blamed it on Kennedy for promoting the idea that Americans should be skeptical of vaccines. ‘It was the worst day of my medical career because I thought $50 of vaccines could have prevented [that woman from experiencing liver failure],’ Cassiday [sic] said. He then pressed Kennedy on whether he would reassure Americans that vaccines for things like Hepatitis B do not cause autism. Kennedy did not, instead saying he would ‘if the data is there.’”
CNN: Senator Challenges RFK Jr.’s False Vaccine Claims In Emotional Speech.
- “In a personal and impassioned speech, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) revealed to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. her own struggle with her son’s health and the fears she had about Kennedy’s continued questioning of what has been settled science on vaccines. RFK Jr. is President Trump’s nominee to be the next Secretary of Health and Human services and has repeatedly questioned the safety of vaccines.”
Barrons: Powerful Republican Takes Aim at R.F.K. Jr.’s Vaccine Views in Senate Hearing
- “Kennedy has downplayed his history of advocating against vaccines since President Donald Trump nominated him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and during a hearing on Wednesday before the Senate’s finance committee he acknowledged he had vaccinated his own children.”
- “In a series of questions asked after opening statements, Cassidy asked if Kennedy would tell parents that the measles and hepatitis b vaccines do not cause autism. Kennedy has said that vaccination causes autism, despite an expert consensus that they do not.”
MSNBC: At Confirmation Hearing, RFK Jr. Trips Over His Ignorance
- “Headed into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first Senate confirmation hearing, many observers expected the longtime conspiracy theorist to face tough questions about his many outlandish ideas — and he did… What was not altogether expected, however, was to see the HHS nominee struggle badly with the basics of the American health care system, which Kennedy would be in a position to oversee. … One need not be a health care policy wonk, intimately familiar with granular and obscure details, to be aware of these facts. Indeed, this is the kind of basic information one would assume that an HHS nominee would already know. Kennedy, however, tripped over his ignorance.”
Reuters: Kennedy Accused Of ‘Misleading’ Vaccine Arguments By Republican Senator.
- “‘Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,’ Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana, told Kennedy. ‘I have constituents who partly credit you for their decision to not vaccinate their child.’ The hearing was the second in two days for Kennedy during which he squared off with Democrats and some Republicans over his past comments on vaccines, abortion and COVID-19 among other topics.”
- “Kennedy has said that vaccines are linked to autism, and he opposed state and federal restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The causes of autism are unclear, though theories that childhood vaccines cause autism have been widely debunked and are contrary to scientific evidence.”
E&E News: RFK Jr. Offers Conflicting Views On Lyme Disease.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told senators Thursday that he ‘never believed’ that Lyme disease was created as a biological weapon. But almost exactly a year ago — in January 2024 — the Health and Human Services nominee hosted an entire episode of his podcast dedicated to ‘Bioweapons and Lyme Disease.’ On the episode, Kennedy hosted author Kris Newby, who had recently published a book called ‘Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons.’ Together, they promoted a false conspiracy theory that the tick-borne illness was cooked up in a military lab off the coast of Long Island, New York, in the 1950s.”
HuffPost: Senators Take RFK Jr. To Task Over His Vaccine Safety Dodge.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said over and over again that he is not against vaccines, despite his long record of spreading vaccine misinformation. Addressing senators wary of confirming him to be secretary of health and human services, Kennedy has claimed he simply wants to promote safety and transparency ― that, if the evidence shows vaccines are safe, he will support them. But the answer is a dodge, because it implies there’s an active scientific debate over vaccine safety. There is not. On Thursday, a group of senators questioning Kennedy made that clear.”
CBS News: Kennedy Pressed On Measles Outbreak In American Samoa.
- “Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, pressed Kennedy on a trip he made to American Samoa, in which Kennedy reportedly expressed skepticism toward vaccines. Kennedy’s 2019 visit to Samoa has recently brought fresh attention to his history of activism focused on raising questions about the safety and effectiveness of the measles vaccine — because his trip came just months before a devastating measles outbreak that claimed 83 lives, many of them young children.”
CBS News: RFK Jr. Struggles To Answer Whether He Stands By Past Statements That HPV Vaccine Increases The Risk Of Cervical Cancer.
- “Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington brought up Kennedy’s past statements in which Murray said Kennedy called the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine dangerous and defective. The vaccine has been proven to significantly lower women’s risk of cervical cancer. Murray asked Kennedy if he stands by those past statements. Kennedy said he brought litigation on behalf of girls who believed the HPV vaccine harmed them.”
Daily Beast: RFK Jr. Confronted About Refusal to ‘Take Sides’ on 9/11.
- “Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine hammered Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his former comments that he ‘won’t take sides on 9/11’ during a heated confirmation hearing on Thursday. … Kennedy refused to back down from his stance, responding: ‘Senator, I haven’t investigated it. Things I investigate, I take sides on.’”