Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will admit his children are vaccinated as he stresses he is not “anti-vaccine” when he speaks at the Senate confirmation hearings as he looks to be approved as the Trump administration’s health secretary.
"All of my kids are vaccinated, and I believe vaccines have a critical role in healthcare,” Kennedy is expected to declare in front of the Senate Finance Committee in the first of two days of senate hearings, according to Fox News. This comes hours after his cousin, Caroline Kennedy, wrote a damning open letter about his candidacy.
Kennedy is seeking control over a $1.7 trillion budget and the 90,000 employees afforded to the nation’s top health official, which controls over 18 important agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
The 71-year-old has become a face of the vaccine-sceptic movement in recent years. Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday that there has never been a health secretary nominee “more dangerous” than Kennedy.
Caroline Kennedy called RFK Jr a “dangerous” vaccine-sceptic whose “crusade against vaccination” is not reflective of most Americans.
For years, Kennedy has served in senior positions in Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit organization he founded which has advocated against vaccines and sued the federal government multiple times - including over the authorization of the COVID vaccine for children.
But Kennedy is expected to insist that he won’t “take away anybody’s vaccines.”
"I want to make sure the Committee is clear about a few things. News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. Well, I am neither; I am pro-safety," he is expected to tell the Senate floor.
"In my advocacy, I have disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions. Well, I won’t apologize for that. We have massive health problems in this country that we must face honestly,” he will add.
The hearings are likely to be contentious due to Kennedy’s controversial vaccine views, including repeated links between vaccines and autism - which has been debunked by scientific research.
Although most of the opposition to Kennedy is driven by his controversial vaccine views - including repeated and disproven links between vaccines and autism - some conservative Republicans also object to his stance on abortion.
Kennedy has previously supported abortion rights, and it is expected that he will be asked to clarify his position at the hearing.
Kennedy wants to move the focus of the agencies he takes control of towards promoting a healthy lifestyle and tackling the root causes of health problems, he will say.
"Should I be so privileged to be confirmed, we will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods. We will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply. We will remove the financial conflicts of interest in our agencies.
“We will create an honest, unbiased, science-driven HHS, accountable to the President, to Congress, and to the American people. We will reverse the chronic disease epidemic and put the nation back on the road to health," he is expected to say on Wednesday.
