Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is our Health Secretary and he’s really rocking the boat! His recent comments and actions related to the COVID-19 vaccines have raised a considerable outcry. Kennedy, who has a history of opposition to vaccine safety and effectiveness, has previously been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation. Yet, at every turn, he insists that he’s not anti-vaccine. None of these things has stopped his actions from provoking alarm across the medical community and far beyond. As the controversy heats up further, Kennedy is now demanding Biden’s FDA revoke the emergency approval given to Covid-19 vaccines because they are too risky.
Kennedy has long been a public face for pushing the idea that vaccines should be questioned. He has been at the forefront of a movement to confuse and mislead the public about vaccines, even as he asserts that he is not anti-vaccine. Alas, during his confirmation process, Kennedy experienced easily the widest support of nearly every Republican senator. He reassured them by telling them that he absolutely would not touch the FDA’s vaccine approval process. This system, under the direction of Dr. Peter Marks, is intended to maximize adherence to high standards of quality, safety, and effectiveness of vaccines.
Yet Kennedy’s recent demand that the emergency approval of Covid-19 vaccines be withdrawn not only ignores these established standards but undermines them completely. He claims that the risks of serious adverse events or deaths linked to these vaccines exceed their benefits. In 2021, as part of a group he led, Kennedy stated, “The current risks of serious adverse events or deaths outweigh the benefits.”
Dr. Peter Marks, who has overseen the FDA’s vaccine approval process, has expressed strong opposition to Kennedy’s views.
“Undermining confidence in well-established vaccines that have met the high standards for quality, safety and effectiveness that have been in place for decades at FDA is irresponsible, detrimental to public health and a clear danger to our nation’s health, safety and security.” – Peter Marks
Kennedy’s strategy so far has been to recruit David Geier, a notorious vaccine skeptic. Despite years of well-respected research disproving any associations whatsoever between vaccines and autism, he will take the lead on a new study investigating the potential connection.
President Trump has given Kennedy the crucial mission of determining mifepristone’s safety. This medication, which is what medication abortion is based on, has undergone more rigorous safety reviews. This rather unimpressive move does however lead us to query Kennedy’s focus and priorities in the wider interests of public health.
According to reports, Kennedy’s office has run up against recalcitrant “defiant bureaucrats” who have even stopped access to “closely guarded databases.” Whether they would be biometric databases or not is left fuzzy in Kennedy’s YouTube statement. It shines a light on the tough road ahead for the department.
In response to internal criticism, an HHS official went on the record to defend Kennedy’s leadership.
“If Peter Marks does not want to get behind restoring science to its golden standard and promoting radical transparency, then he has no place at FDA under the strong leadership of secretary Kennedy.” – HHS official