Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed at least one thing during his tour of Congress on Wednesday: His longtime skepticism of vaccines and other public health interventions has not diminished, despite what he may have said during his confirmation hearings.
“I am not going to just tell people everything is safe and effective if I know there’s issues,” Kennedy told Sen. Chris Murphy when he was repeatedly asked during his testimony to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions if he was currently recommending the measles vaccine.
Kennedy insisted that he’d recommended the measles vaccine during his hearing before the House Appropriations Committee earlier in the day. But Kennedy made no such statement — he said his opinion on vaccines was “irrelevant” when asked if he would personally vaccinate his children now.