Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. yesterday addressed a conference organized by the antivaccine group Children’s Health Defense, playing up the safety risks of vaccines and telling the audience they have a “strong and steadfast friend in the White House.”
Kennedy, who once served as chairman of the group but has kept a distance since becoming HHS secretary, repeatedly questioned the safety of vaccines during his speech and suggested the childhood vaccine schedule might have connections to what he called the “chronic disease epidemic” in US children. He said President Donald Trump has asked to him to “vigorously investigate” the potential contribution of childhood vaccines.
Kennedy said that while vaccine injuries are likely rare, “there’s no way for us to know this,” because the system for reporting vaccine injuries “is broken.”
“We have no idea what the risk profile is for these products,” Kennedy said, repeating a false claim he has made in the past. Vaccines are among the most heavily scrutinized medical products, licensed on the basis of multiple clinical trials and monitored in post-approval marketing studies and by federal surveillance systems.
No mention of measles outbreak
Kennedy spoke to the group amid a nationwide measles outbreak that has reached 3,471 confirmed cases, with four measles-associated deaths reported in Pennsylvania. His only mention of the outbreak was in reference to vaccine injuries.
“We care about every child who dies from measles. They get headlines,” Kennedy said. “Shouldn’t we, I ask you, care about the children who are dying or suffering or being injured by vaccine injuries?”
In a post on X, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro criticized Kennedy for “spending his time addressing the premiere vaccine denial conference in America” in the midst of the outbreak.
“He needed to say one sentence: I urge all Americans to get the measles vaccine now to protect themselves and their families during this deadly outbreak,” Shapiro said. “Instead, he pushed a narrative that continues to stoke fear and mistrust.”