U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said people should not be taking medical advice from him.
Vaccine skeptic RFK Jr. was speaking at a House Appropriations Committee hearing Wednesday when he was questioned about his views on vaccines.
Democratic Representative Mark Pocan asked him: “If you had a child today, would you vaccinate that child for measles?”
Highlights
- RFK Jr. said people should not take medical advice from him, despite his vaccine skepticism.
- Amid a U.S. measles outbreak, RFK Jr. avoided vaccine recommendations and defended significant job cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
- The HHS’ total workforce is projected to shrink from approximately 82,000 to 62,000.
“Probably, for measles,” RFK Jr. responded. “I would say that my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant.”
RFK Jr. said people should not take medical advice from him
Image credits: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“I don’t want to seem like I’m being evasive, but I don’t think people should be taking advice, medical advice from me,” he added.
Pocan asked if it was not his jurisdiction, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does give advice.
But RFK Jr. said they were going to lay out the “pros and cons” and the “risks and benefits” as they understand them with replicable studies.
When asked if he would vaccinate his children against chickenpox or polio, he dodged the question and reiterated that he didn’t want to give advice.
RFK Jr. said he had ordered National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya to “do the science” so people could make their own decisions.
Image credits: ABC News
While his adult children are vaccinated, RFK Jr. previously said he regrets his decision to inoculate them.
His comments come amid an ongoing measles outbreak in the U.S., which has resulted in the deaths of three people—two of whom were children, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
As of May 8, a total of 1,001 confirmed measles cases were reported by 31 jurisdictions, with the majority of cases reported in people under the age of 19.
Of those reported cases, 96% are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.
Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 due to a high percentage of people receiving the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Image credits: The White House
However, in recent years, MMR vaccines among kindergarteners dropped below the 95% coverage target and is much lower in some communities.
RFK Jr. has a long history of vaccine skepticism, and he recently made misleading statements that the MMR vaccine included “aborted fetus debris.”
Speaking on the NewsNation’s program earlier in May as measles cases in Texas surged to the high hundreds, he said populations such as the Mennonites in Texas were most afflicted as they have religious objections to the vaccination.
This was “because the MMR vaccine contains a lot of aborted fetus debris and DNA particles. So they don’t want to take it.” The claim is scientifically inaccurate.
“The claim that the MMR vaccine contains ‘fetal debris’ is not only scientifically inaccurate, it’s dangerously misleading,” the former chief medical officer for New York City, Dr. Tyler Evans, told The Independent.
RFK Jr. also defended cuts that have been made to the HHS
“As someone who has spent my career on the front lines of outbreaks and humanitarian crises, I can tell you, vaccines save lives.
“The rubella component of the MMR vaccine was developed decades ago using a well-established human cell line, replicated countless times. There is no actual fetal tissue in the vaccine.
“It’s time we stop politicizing science and return to evidence-based public health, because mistrust fueled by misinformation puts our most vulnerable communities at risk.”
RFK Jr. also testified before a Senate committee on Wednesday, and he defended significant job cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In April, the HHS initiated a major restructuring effort that involved cutting about 10,000 positions and merging 28 separate institutes and centers into 15 newly formed divisions.
Alongside these layoffs, an additional 10,000 employees have exited the agency in recent months through early retirement and voluntary resignation programs.
As a result, the HHS’ total workforce is projected to shrink from approximately 82,000 to 62,000—a reduction of about 25%.
During both hearings, RFK Jr. defended the cuts and said they had not impacted key health programs, but many were not convinced.
When questioned by Representative Rosa DeLauro about why the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health was scrapped, RFK Jr. said he couldn’t answer.
“We are under a court order not to do any further planning on the reorganization, and I’ve been advised by my attorneys not to comment,” he responded.
“But I will just say broadly, many of the programs that the Democrats are now saying were cut [at] the CDC were not cut at all.”