Washington D.C. – During his first confirmation hearing today in the Senate Finance Committee, Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. struggled to answer basic health policy questions and desperately tried to backtrack on his record when serious concerns were raised about his opposition to lifesaving vaccines, his vows to stop funding research for treatments and cures to deadly diseases, and his empty resume on health policy matters. Kennedy also blatantly dodged questioning from Senator Elizabeth Warren about his problematic conflict of interest involving civil lawsuits against a leading HPV vaccine – and failed to address his lack of judgment in casting an absentee vote in the last election from a New York residence courts had ruled he did not reside, a potential felony.  

“Robert Kennedy Jr.’s deep well of anti-vaccine, anti-science conspiracy theories are not the makings of a responsible U.S. Health Secretary who can safely protect our public health,” said Accountable.US Executive Director Tony Carrk. “Kennedy’s experience of baselessly suing manufacturers of life-saving vaccines does not translate into qualifications to oversee the health sector that represents a fifth of the U.S. economy – but it does present a conflict of interest as he continues to reap fees from such lawsuits. In addition, several answers in the hearing exposed that Kennedy has no idea about the role the agency he wants to lead would have over the health care of millions of people, especially when it comes to Medicaid. All this shows is that Kennedy’s dangerous nomination came about through political loyalty to President Trump and nothing else. But now is the time for Senators to show their loyalty to the people they serve by rejecting his nomination.” 

KEY QUESTIONS KENNEDY FAILED TO ADDRESS IN TODAY’S CONFIRMATION HEARING:

Potential Conflict of Interest

  • Kennedy has neglected to relinquish his claim to contingency fees from civil cases won by his affiliate law firm Wisner Baum. This firm’s litigation against Merck over its Gardasil vaccine, which has played a lifesaving role in HPV prevention, is among the cases that have so far earned Kennedy more than $2.5 million, a total that could continue to rise even as HHS administers the vaccine court presiding over this lawsuit. How can Kennedy justify his decision not to relinquish his stake in this lawsuit prior to his confirmation process, given this clear and obvious conflict of interest? If confirmed, how would Kennedy ensure that this case and others like it remain fair and impartial, given his financial incentive to influence their outcomes? 

Possible Felony Voter Fraud Offense

  • In the most recent presidential election, Kennedy cast a ballot in New York using a residence that, in August 2024, the Albany County Supreme Court found did not meet the legal requirements to constitute his residence under election law. Under New York law, any person who “knowingly votes […] in an election district or from a place where he does not reside” is guilty of a felony. Kennedy’s possible felony voter fraud offense prompted Accountable.US, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, to file a complaint with the New York State Board of Elections on January 6, 2025, which received coverage in a number of news outlets. Should a felony offense disqualify Kennedy from being Health Secretary? 

Dangerous Implications of Unscientific and Conspiracy Theorist Views

  • Will Kennedy pledge to not tamper with the FDA’s approval of existing vaccines, order the NIH to halt its vaccine development programs, or strip requirements from the childhood immunization schedule?
  • The Department of Health and Human Services is a significant funder of vaccine research. As Health Secretary, Kennedy would have the power to remove COVID-19 vaccines’ liability shield, which would open the door to a flood of bogus injury lawsuits filed against their manufacturers. Will Kennedy pledge not to undertake actions that would cripple our country’s vaccine manufacturers––which played a crucial role in ending the COVID-19 pandemic––if confirmed as Health Secretary?
  • Kennedy and his nonprofit have promoted several wildly unscientific conspiracy theories, including the claims that vaccines cause autism and that wireless technology emits radiation that can harm human bodies. In Kennedy’s activism efforts, his nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, paid $226,000 to groups that peddle anti-vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories, including $136,000 to a group with which it co-published a paper that used unverified VAERS data to cast doubt on COVID-19 vaccines’ safety.

    If confirmed as Health Secretary, would Kennedy devote taxpayer resources and HHS personnel to producing studies on the supposed link between vaccines and autism, or on the safety of cell phone towers? How can Americans be sure his confirmation as Health Secretary would not be followed by an outpouring of misinformative and disinformative junk science articles from the NIH and other government research bodies? 

Pandemic Readiness Undermined

  • More than 1.2 million Americans have died of COVID-19 since its outbreak in 2020. Many of these deaths might have been prevented had the Trump Administration had not disbanded the National Security Council Directorate on Global Health Security and Biodefense, the body tasked with ensuring that our country would be prepared for a global pandemic.While President Biden re-established the directorate during his tenure, last week, President Trump again disbanded it in one of his many initial executive orders. Does Kennedy disagree with Trump’s decision to once again disband our country’s pandemic readiness task force? Does Kennedy believe that maintaining infrastructure would allow the nation to swiftly develop new vaccines is an essential part of our ability to prepare for and withstand future pandemics? If so, will Kennedy pledge that as Health Secretary, he will not revoke vaccine access, dissolve research bodies dedicated to studying vaccines, and slash funding to vaccine research? 

Disruptions to HIV Research and Medication Access 

  • On numerous occasions, Kennedy has sown doubt around the fact that HIV causes AIDS, which is accepted by overwhelming scientific consensus. In his book “The Real Anthony Fauci,” Kennedy wrote that he takes “no position” on whether HIV causes AIDS. Last year, a seventh person was reported as cured of HIV, and many Americans, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community, are hopeful that a cure can be developed for this devastating disease. If confirmed as Health Secretary, would Kennedy halt federal funding of this potentially lifesaving research? Would he undertake any actions that could disrupt Americans’ access to existing HIV medication like PrEP? 

Claims About Race-Targeting Bioweapons

  • Kennedy has falsely claimed that COVID-19 is a bioweapon “targeted to attack Caucasians and black people” and that  “Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese” are the “most immune” from it. Kennedy also stated that the United States is funding “labs in the Ukraine” to collect Russian and Chinese DNA “so that we can target people by race” using similar bioweapons. Does Kennedy stand by these unhinged statements? 

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