Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. promised during his confirmation hearing that he’s not anti-vaccine.
But in another Senate hearing Thursday he will have to answer for a series of dramatic steps that cast doubt on his word — and threaten to destroy health protections that have saved millions of lives.
Since becoming America’s top health official, Kennedy has purged top government vaccine experts, fired the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and terminated research on some lifesaving vaccines.
The national pro-vaccine consensus that has improved life expectancy over generations has splintered. On Wednesday, for example, Florida moved to end constitutionally upheld vaccine requirements for school kids and three Democratic-run states banded together to offer public health guidelines, reasoning that federal bodies once seen as a global gold standard could no longer be trusted.
Already, the consequences for the health of Americans look enormous.
