Democrats ask RFK Jr. to stay away from vaccine decisions

Democratic lawmakers in the US are asking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stay away from all vaccine-related decisions if confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services because his family could benefit from anti-vaccine litigation. 

“These conflicts, combined with your decades-long career casting doubt about the safety and efficacy of life-saving vaccines, give us grave concern about your fitness to serve as Secretary,” Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote in a letter to Kennedy dated Feb. 2. 

Both senators have been highly critical of Kennedy’s nomination, questioning his ability to lead HHS, where he’d have influence over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which makes recommendations for vaccine use, and the Food and Drug Administration, which decides whether to approve immunizations and other cutting-edge treatments. 

They’ll vote on his confirmation Tuesday as members of the Senate Finance Committee, before it moves to the full Senate.  

Kennedy has for years earned referral fees from Wisner Baum, a national personal injury firm that’s made claims against an HHS-managed program to compensate people injured by vaccines, according to federal disclosures. After intense scrutiny from lawmakers during his confirmation hearings last week, he amended his ethics agreement to divest his interest in anti-vaccine litigation and sign over the financial stakes to an adult family member.

But Senators Warren and Wyden said the new ethics agreement remains “plainly inadequate” in part because it allows an immediate family member to benefit financially from Kennedy’s position as HHS secretary. They requested that Kennedy, if confirmed, recuse himself from all vaccine-related communications and decisions to ensure that his family does not benefit financially from his position. It would also make sure that vaccine-related policy making and communications “are not inappropriately skewed” by Kennedy’s personal views at the expense of scientific evidence, they said.

Before he was nominated to head HHS, Kennedy called Covid shots “a crime against humanity.” His Children’s Health Defense organization linked vaccines to autism and said they’d never properly been tested. He walked back some of those remarks in his confirmation hearings last week, telling senators that he is not “anti-vaccine or anti-industry.”

The senators also requested that, if confirmed, Kennedy would remove himself from all matters related to HHS-regulated entities that are involved in cases or litigation that he or his family have an interest in and that he will not litigate or represent parties in cases relating to vaccine injury for at least four years after leaving office. 

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