In a hushed Capitol Hill chamber, the health secretary of the United States — a man once dubbed the nation’s leading vaccine skeptic — paused when asked a simple question.
“If you had a child today, would you vaccinate that child for measles?” asked last week Representative Mark Pocan, Democrat of Wisconsin.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hesitated. “For measles? Um, probably for measles,” he said, before quickly retreating. “What I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant … 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.”
That moment, one of the few times Kennedy appeared uncertain during back-to-back hearings before House and Senate committees, has since reverberated far beyond Washington. At the center of the storm is a man charged with safeguarding the health of 330 million Americans, who now seems unwilling to affirm one of public health’s most basic principles: that vaccines save lives.
The hearings were meant to scrutinize President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, which would slash tens of billions from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and gut scientific research — including a staggering 40% cut to the National Institutes of Health. But Kennedy’s testimony quickly veered into deeper territory, revealing the contradictions at the heart of his leadership.
Kennedy, once the face of the nation’s most influential anti-vaccine advocacy group, now leads the federal department that oversees the CDC, the FDA, and the nation’s pandemic preparedness. His refusal to endorse the measles vaccine — a shot credited with saving an estimated 90 million lives globally in just fifty years — raised alarm among lawmakers.
Pressed further by Pocan, Kennedy repeatedly deflected. On chickenpox: “Um, again, I don’t want to give advice.” On polio? “Again, I don’t want to be giving advice.”
That hedging contrasts sharply with the rising tide of measles cases. The U.S. is now facing its worst measles outbreak since 2000. Texas alone has recorded over 700 cases, including the deaths of two unvaccinated children. Nationwide, cases have surpassed 1,000, with outbreaks in more than 30 states. According to health officials, most infections are among the unvaccinated or those with unknown vaccination status.
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Yet Kennedy seemed reluctant to lead the charge. At the Senate hearing, Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, confronted him bluntly: “The secretary of health and human services is no longer recommending the measles vaccines. I think that’s really dangerous for the American public and for families.”
Public Health in Retreat
Since taking office, Kennedy has presided over a dramatic dismantling of HHS. With assistance from Elon Musk’s informal “department of government efficiency,” Kennedy has eliminated some 20,000 positions, shuttered entire public health labs, and left large gaps in disease surveillance.
Key research programs have also been gutted. Cancer research alone faces a 31% cut. Overall, Kennedy has impounded or withheld $2.7 billion from the health research budget — a move experts say is crippling scientific progress. Even more alarming is the lack of transparency.
“I’m going to talk very, very broadly,” Kennedy told lawmakers. “We are under a court order yesterday afternoon not to do any more planning under the reorganization, and I have been advised by my attorneys not to talk about it.”
That explanation didn’t sit well with legal experts. “Pure nonsense,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global health law professor at Georgetown. “The secretary has a public duty to explain the reasoning behind the reorganization of his department and to show why it is in the public interest.”
Kennedy’s decisions are now raising concerns that his department is prioritizing ideology over science. While he has reinstated some programs — such as the World Trade Center Health Program and parts of the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety — critics note that these reversals often follow political pressure.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are advancing a bill to extend Trump-era tax cuts by cutting federal healthcare subsidies. If passed, the plan could push 13.7 million Americans off health insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill also introduces new work requirements for Medicaid, the country’s largest insurer, covering 71 million low-income, elderly, and disabled Americans.
The Danger of Mixed Messages
In April, Kennedy gave his first full-throated endorsement of the measles vaccine since becoming health secretary. “The federal government’s position, my position, is that people should get the measles vaccine,” he told CBS News. But he added, “The government should not be mandating those.”
That balance — between recommendation and personal freedom — might seem reasonable in theory. In practice, experts say, it sows confusion.
Kennedy has also made other claims that raised eyebrows. He recently asserted that the health department would “soon be phasing out most animal studies” in favor of artificial intelligence. Drug discovery expert Derek Lowe called the statement “bullshit,” pointing out that while AI tools are promising, they remain years away from replacing animal models.
And then there are Kennedy’s own alternative health beliefs. He has said sugar is “poison,” claimed that cod liver oil can treat measles with “very, very good results,” and continues to promote the idea that Americans should “do their own research” on vaccines.
The hearings this week laid bare a tension that has been simmering since Kennedy assumed office: Can someone who has built a career on distrust of mainstream medicine effectively lead America’s health system?
So far, his actions and words suggest a troubling answer. In the midst of a deadly outbreak, when clarity is most needed, the secretary is leaving Americans to fend for themselves — and telling them not to listen to him.
