Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s controversial nominee to lead the Health and Human Services Department, faced tough questions about his long record of anti-vaccine advocacy and other conspiracy theories at a Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday.
After Kennedy told the committee in his opening statement that he did not oppose vaccines and that his children had been vaccinated, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) noted he once told a podcast host he wished he could go back in time and not vaccinate his children.
“Are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine, or were you lying on those podcasts?” asked Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
Kennedy said those remarks were taken out of context, telling the senator that “bringing this up right now is dishonest.”
In 2023, Kennedy said in a podcast interview that “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective,” and in a 2021 podcast he urged people to “resist” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on when kids should get vaccinated. He said he wished he could go back and not get his kids vaccinated. “I would do anything for that. I would pay anything to be able to do that,” he said.
But in his hearing on Wednesday, Kennedy sought to assuage skeptical senators about his anti-vaccine record.
“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking either of those vaccines,” Kennedy said, contradicting his many past comments questioning the safety of both.
“Anybody that believes that ought to look at the measles book you wrote, saying parents have been misled in saying measles is a deadly disease. That’s not true,” Wyden said.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) also pressed Kennedy about spreading a wild conspiracy theory about the tick-borne illness Lyme disease, claiming it is a military bioweapon and blaming vaccine research for creating the disease.
“Did you say that Lyme disease is highly likely a materially engineered bioweapon?” Bennet asked him.
“I probably did say that,” Kennedy responded. “And that’s what the developer of Lyme disease said.”
Democrats also entered into the committee record a scathing statement from Caroline Kennedy, RFK Jr.’s cousin and another prominent member of the Kennedy family, warning senators not to confirm him.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who once roomed with Kennedy in law school, asked him to promise that he will never question the safety of vaccines.
“Frankly, you frighten people,” Whitehouse said, noting a recent measles outbreak in Rhode Island.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
