President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services said he will divest his interest in lawsuits against an HPV vaccine manufacturer.
In written responses to questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., following his confirmation hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that he would divest his interest in lawsuits against Merck, the maker of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, that were referred to the personal injury law firm Wisner Baum.
“If confirmed, you would be in a position to influence the outcome of Gardasil-related cases that you referred to Wisner Baum,” Warren wrote. “Given this apparent conflict of interest, do you commit to divest from your contingency fee interest in those cases?”
Kennedy wrote in his response that an amendment to his ethics agreement is in the process that “provides that I will divest my interest in this litigation.”
Kennedy has a long history of making misleading claims about the HPV vaccine, which has been credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives by preventing infections that lead to cervical and other cancers.
As a vaccine-injury attorney, Kennedy led lawsuits against Merck, and as chair and chief counsel of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, he claimed on social media that the vaccine appeared to lead to increased rates of cancer, just as “COVID vaccines raise the risk of COVID.”
Kennedy’s financial disclosures filed ahead of his confirmation hearings showed that Kennedy had been paid more than $800,000 by the personal injury law firm Wisner Baum in referral fees and would receive a 10 percent contingency fee if the plaintiffs are successful in the cases.
Kennedy’s financial interest in lawsuits was a contentious topic between Warren and Kennedy during his hearing with the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday.
Warren asked Kennedy if he would agree to not take compensation from lawsuits against drug companies during and for four years after his term as secretary, but Kennedy declined to make that commitment.
“You’re asking me to not sue drug companies, and I’m not going to agree to that,” he said.
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