STAT+: RFK Jr.'s step-by-step blueprint to question the safety of vaccines

WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has insisted he doesn’t want to take away vaccines  —  he just wants to make sure they’re safe.   

But he has already sketched out a blueprint that could subject recommended vaccines to renewed scrutiny, redirect research, strip legal protections for vaccine makers, and change how vaccines are advertised. His step-by-step plan provides a window into how RFK Jr. could use the levers of power as the top U.S. health official to sow doubt about vaccines at a time when rates of childhood immunizations are already slipping.

President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services laid out these plans in a 2023 book he co-wrote, “Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak,” and on the website of a nonprofit organization he has worked for that promotes the idea that vaccines are unsafe. The book, which argues that the cumulative effects of vaccination aren’t studied enough, is one of several that RFK Jr. has written about vaccines and public health as part of his decades-long quest to question whether vaccines are safe.

His advocacy against vaccination has included disproven claims that “autism comes from vaccines” and conspiracy theories purporting that government officials and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates have colluded to advance vaccines to profit themselves. He’s also advanced these ideas through the nonprofit organization Children’s Health Defense, which has filed lawsuits related to vaccinations.

RFK Jr. is facing confirmation hearings before two Senate committees this week, and it’s likely lawmakers will ask about his views on vaccinations. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) included 16 questions on immunizations in a lengthy letter ahead of the hearings. Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) has also signaled concern about the nominee’s vaccine views.  

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