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RFK Jr., Trump's health secretary pick, grilled about vaccines and abortion

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday.

Updated January 29, 2025 at 18:45 PM ET

We're following the confirmation hearings for the incoming Trump administration. See our full politics coverage, and follow NPR's Trump's Terms podcast or sign up for our Politics newsletter to stay up to date.


Who: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Nominated for: Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services

You might know him from: A scion of the famous Democratic political dynasty, his uncle was President John F. Kennedy and his father was Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. He ran for president in 2024, throwing his support President Trump's way after withdrawing from the race. For decades, he's been one of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the country.

  • He has pushed the disproven link between vaccines and autism and other baseless claims, including that Wi-Fi causes cancer and that AIDS is not caused by HIV. 
  • During his campaign for president last year, he said he opposed state laws that ban abortion.

What does this role do? The secretary leads HHS and all its health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It has one of the largest budgets in the federal government — $1.8 trillion annually.

What happened at the hearing

Facing contentious questions from the beginning, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. sought to downplay his extensive track record of pushing inaccurate information on vaccines and infectious disease — and emphasize his commitment to tackle chronic diseases and shake up federal health agencies.

He also tried to thread a needle on his views on abortion, reassuring anti-abortion Republicans that he considers every abortion a tragedy. He has supported abortion rights in the past.

Throughout the more than three hours of questioning, Democrats confronted Kennedy with his own words, pressing him on how his past statements conflict with what he's now telling the committee in his bid to become health secretary.

"There is no reason that any of us should believe that you have reversed the anti-vaccine views you have promoted for 25 years," said Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire.

As he has done in the past, Kennedy repeatedly denied he was "anti-vaccine," saying inoculations "play a critical role in health care," and that all of his kids are vaccinated. At times he accused senators of misrepresenting the statements they quoted back to him verbatim.

Republicans largely steered clear of diving into Kennedy's history on vaccines, though some did try to bolster his claim that he would support them as secretary.

"I don't see how Mr. Kennedy's position can be any more clear that he's going to support the vaccines, that he's going to support the science and empower parents and doctors to make these choices," said Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who is an OB/GYN and one of three doctors on the committee.

Some Republicans did question Kennedy about his support for President Trump's anti-abortion policies — a major departure from his previous stance — and on how his call to overhaul American agriculture and the food supply could harm farmers.

The hearing was interrupted several times by protesters who were removed by Capitol Police. Kennedy also had supporters in the room — he called them "MAHA Moms," referring to his "Make America Healthy Again" slogan. His supporters gave him a round of applause during a brief break in the proceedings.

Throughout the hearing, Kennedy rattled off statistics on the uptick in chronic disease, which he called a "spiritual and moral issue," and emphasized his experience as an attorney challenging institutions.

"I promised President Trump that, if confirmed, I will do everything in my power to put the health of Americans back on track," Kennedy said, "There's nobody who will fix it the way that I do because I'm not scared of vested interests."

It's a theme that Republicans underscored, with Committee chair Sen. Mike Crapo, of Idaho, stating Kennedy represents "a voice for an inspiring coalition of Americans" who are committed to improving health.

Confronting his own words on vaccines

However, Kennedy was frequently on the defense during the hearing as he tried to sidestep his past statements that populate hours of interviews and writings.

At the outset, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, ranking Democrat on the committee, said his staff examined thousands of pages of Kennedy's past claims.

He recounted a 2023 podcast interview in which Kennedy said "no vaccine is safe and effective," another podcast in which he said he would do anything to go back in time and not vaccinate his kids, his petition to the federal government to revoke the COVID-19 vaccine authorizations in 2021, and a passage in one of Kennedy's books stating the public was "misled" that "measles is a deadly disease," and misled "that measles vaccines are necessary, safe and effective."

Wyden also cited Caroline Kennedy's sharp rebuke of her cousin this week as a "predator" who is "unqualified" for the HHS role.

"He has made it his life's work to sow doubt and discourage parents from getting their kids life-saving vaccines and it has been lucrative for him," Wyden said.

In response, Kennedy said, "I support the measles vaccine, I support the polio vaccine" and added, "I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking either of those vaccines."

When asked about a well-documented measles outbreak in Samoa, Kennedy questioned the underlying cause of deaths and denied having any responsibility for discouraging vaccination there.

But Kennedy's efforts to distance himself from his history of anti-vaccine advocacy failed to reassure many of his critics.

"Frankly, you frighten people," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat of Rhode Island, discussing measles cases in his state. He urged Kennedy to promise "never to say vaccines aren't medically safe when they in fact are, and making indisputably clear that you support mandatory vaccinations against diseases where that will keep people safe."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) questions Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about onesies for babies that have anti-vaccine slogans. They are sold by Children's Health Defense, an organization that Kennedy founded.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) questions Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about onesies for babies that have anti-vaccine slogans. They are sold by Children's Health Defense, an organization that Kennedy founded.

In one colorful moment, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont pulled up a poster showing baby onesies with the slogans "unvaxxed unafraid" and "no vax no problem" that are currently being sold by Children's Health Defense (CHD), the anti-vaccine advocacy group Kennedy founded.

"You are coming before this committee saying you are really pro vaccine," said Sanders, "And yet your organization is making money selling a child's product to parents for 26 bucks, which casts fundamental doubt on the usefulness of vaccines."

In response, Kennedy noted he had resigned from CHD, but stopped short of calling for the group to halt sales of the onesies, as Sanders pressed him to do. CHD streamed the hearing live on its website Wednesday.

Recent change on abortion

Republicans mostly avoided Kennedy's fraught record on vaccines. Some zeroed in on his past support for abortion rights, which has drawn opposition from a conservative group led by former Vice President Mike Pence.

In an exchange with Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Kennedy said: "I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy." He said he would follow Trump's lead on policy, including leaving policies to the states. He also said the president had asked him to "study the safety of mifepristone," the abortion pill whose FDA approval is being challenged by anti-abortion groups.

Kennedy's critics on the left also seized on his shifting position on abortion. "I have never seen any major politician flip on that issue quite as quickly as you did when Trump asked you to become HHS secretary," Sanders said.

Conspiracy theories raised

Kennedy had several fiery exchanges with Democratic senators who raised concerns over some of the more outlandish false claims and conspiracy theories he has put forward.

Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado brought up Kennedy's 2023 claim that COVID-19 was an "ethnically targeted" bioweapon. In a recording published by the New York Post, Kennedy asserted that "COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."

Kennedy disputed saying the virus was "deliberately targeted" and said he was referencing a NIH-funded medical study.

A 2020 study, he's cited in the past to support the assertion, did not mention Chinese people and did not make claims about ethnic targeting. One of the study's authors told CBS News at the time that its findings "never supported" Kennedy's claims.

When Bennet asked about Kennedy's false assertion that Lyme disease may also be a bioweapon developed by the military, Kennedy acknowledged: "I probably did say that."

Kennedy also sparred with Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota over his comments linking the use of antidepressants to school shootings. Kennedy said he was suggesting that antidepressants could be one factor; Smith accused him of adding to the stigma around mental illness and drugs that help many people.

In an exchange with Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Kennedy said the term "conspiracy theorist" is "a pejorative applied to me mainly to keep me from asking difficult questions about powerful interests."

Lawsuits against drugmakers

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts grilled Kennedy on potential financial conflicts of interest arising from lawsuits he has brought against drugmakers, which have earned Kennedy millions of dollars. She asked him to commit to not taking fees from litigation while serving as HHS secretary — which he has said in his financial disclosures he would still receive.

"You're asking me not to sue vaccine companies," Kennedy responded. Warren said that was not what she was asking.

"No one should be fooled by you," Warren said. "Kids might die but Robert Kennedy can keep cashing in."

Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act

In several exchanges, Kennedy displayed a tenuous grasp on the federal health care programs he would oversee. He didn't seem to understand the role of community health centers, where many low income Americans receive care. He said Medicaid and the ACA are not popular. In fact, they are popular across the political spectrum.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, another one of the panel's doctors and a Republican, asked about people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, known as "duals." Kennedy said they were not well served by the two programs but didn't have a clear answer for how to improve the situation.

He also told Cassidy that he is on Medicare Advantage, and he likes it. Later, he said that some people cannot afford Medicare Advantage, which health insurers administer. In fact, Medicare Advantage often is cheaper than traditional Medicare for beneficiaries, but it costs taxpayers more.

On Thursday, Kennedy will appear in front of a second confirmation hearing before the Senate's Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which Cassidy chairs.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Selena Simmons-Duffin reports on health policy for NPR.
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