The name Robert F. Kennedy Jr. means many things to different people. Son of a revered politician. Visionary for promoting eating healthy foods. Whack job who defiles bear and whale carcasses. Regardless of your opinion on him, one thing is true — RFK Jr. poses an unprecedented risk to all Americans if he becomes secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy has a well-documented history of opposing lifesaving vaccines and he has pledged to stop funding research for treatments and cures for deadly diseases. Yet Kennedy is nominated to run the HHS, the agency designed to “improve the health, safety, and well-being of America.”
If Kennedy becomes our next HHS secretary, we could face a resurgence of childhood illnesses that have become easy to prevent thanks to the prevalence of vaccines. In 2022, he asked his lawyer to petition the federal government to revoke the polio vaccine, an incredibly effective tool at combatting a virus that killed and paralyzed people for generations. It’s not just polio, either: RFK Jr. has launched crusades against vaccines for measles, HPV, and COVID-19 for years.
It’s not only that RFK Jr. is fervently against vaccines — he also doesn’t have the experience to effectively lead our nation’s public health care system. He has less than a decade of experience in running an organization, which was the anti-vaccine advocacy group Children’s Health Defense.
The group lists fewer than 10 staff members — compared to more than 80,000 employees of HHS across a diverse array of sub-agencies and departments. Even former staffers have expressed concern about RFK Jr.’s ability to run an agency as large as HHS. Kennedy does not have the experience to run a coffee shop, let alone an organization that regulates 17% of the economy.
Still, if he’s confirmed as HHS secretary, Kennedy has promised to stop all research into infectious diseases and drug development — a key component of HHS’ lifesaving work — saying he “does not believe that infectious disease is an enormous threat to human health.”
America would become deeply unprepared to respond to serious health threats and it would impede the development of new treatments for serious diseases like cancer. A delay in finding treatments or cures could mean life or death for thousands. How can someone with such unfounded positions, and next to no experience, run America’s public health system?
RFK Jr. will threaten the lives of New Yorkers. Kennedy will erode the public health institutions that keep Americans safe from infectious diseases and contaminated food, and he will put vital programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, at grave risk.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccination conspiracy theories already have deadly consequences. Following his visit to Samoa in 2019, where Kennedy met with the prime minister and other high profile figures, a devastating measles outbreak killed 83 people, primarily infants and children.
The widespread fear and distrust of vaccines was perpetuated by Kennedy’s misinformation and harsh rhetoric opposing the efforts attempting to contain the outbreak. Hawaii’s governor, Dr. Josh Green, who was dispatched to Samoa during the outbreak said it “was caused in large part by RFK Jr.” and called him “a terrible pick for HHS secretary.”
The devastating events that followed his visit to Samoa could be a preview of what’s to come with Kennedy at the reins of our nation’s public health care system.
As a former HHS regional director, I know firsthand the importance of what HHS does. HHS is responsible for approving medicines, overseeing vaccines, funding life-saving research, and coordinating responses — everything from pandemics to natural disasters. If RFK Jr. is put in charge of America’s health care system, healthy and immunocompromised people alike will get sick and die.
There is a lack of trust in government and the health industry that needs to be rebuilt. But bringing in someone like RFK Jr. to run one of the most important parts of our government is not the way to do it. To everyone who cares about the health of their loved ones and community — make your voice heard. Contact your senator and combat misinformation online.
The American people deserve a leader at HHS who believes in science, who believes in vaccines, and who is committed to lowering costs and protecting health care coverage. Kennedy will not rely on medical experts to make smart and informed decisions — he will use this new platform as a way to spread lies and disease. Kennedy becoming HHS secretary would threaten every single household in New York and across the nation.
Kass served as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regional director covering New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico from 2021 until January 2024.
