Fact checked by Catherine Gianaro
U.S. senators will meet this week to discuss whether to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer, as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The department oversees 13 agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.
Physicians across the country are speaking in support of and against his nomination, though significantly more are speaking out against — in op-eds, on social media, and in letters to senators. The largest organized effort is via the advocacy group Committee to Protect Health Care.
The committee has gathered signatures from nearly 24,000 healthcare professionals — including some 15,000 physicians — on a letter objecting to Kennedy. The letter cites Kennedy’s anti-vaccination advocacy and his vows to gut public health efforts as two central concerns.
“RFK Jr.’s rhetoric and actions endanger the health of millions, especially children, by undermining trust in essential health care,” the letter states. “His appointment threatens to reverse decades of progress in improving health outcomes for patients across the country and the world. This is not leadership — it’s sabotage.”
The letter also cites specific examples of Kennedy’s false statements and misleading actions, including his 2019 visit to Samoa, where Kennedy fueled doubts about measles vaccine safety. Vaccination rates fell from 60% to 31% following Kennedy’s visit. A subsequent measles outbreak killed 83 people, primarily children younger than 5, within four months. In that time, 1,868 were admitted to the hospital with the disease.
“Our patients deserve a Secretary of HHS who upholds the principles of science and public health, focusing on addressing real public health crises facing Americans such as the high cost of prescription drugs, access to care, and the systemic barriers patients face — not someone whose legacy is built on lies and conspiracy theories,” the letter states.
Conversely, 800 physicians signed onto a letter supporting Kennedy’s nomination this past December. Make America Healthy Again, a pro-Kennedy organization, collected the signatures.
“America stands at a crossroads. The conventional approaches of the past have failed to reverse our declining health outcomes,” the support letter argues. “By confirming Mr. Kennedy, you will empower a leader prepared to tackle these challenges head-on, delivering the bold, systemic reforms our public health system desperately needs.”
In the meantime, the new administration has ordered all agencies under the HHS to halt travel, trainings, meetings, and communications. The Food and Drug Administration, for example, did not publish its weekly communication about outbreaks linked to food contamination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report also went unpublished. This report would have shown updates on the H5N1 bird flu outbreak.
Past administrations have issued brief pauses on agency communications to realign strategy, but this extended halt has caused confusion and anxiety within the institutes that HHS oversees. Researchers also report concerns over whether the president’s political appointees will try to control agencies’ communications, as happened with the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the report conflicted with White House messaging about the virus.
An award-winning journalist, Katie has written for Chicago Health since 2016 and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief.
