The health secretary appeared before the House Appropriations Committee this morning. This afternoon he'll go before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.

Summary

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declined to clearly endorse vaccines during a House hearing amid a deadly U.S. measles outbreak.

Asked if he’d vaccinate his children today, Kennedy said, “My opinions about vaccines are irrelevant,” despite past regrets over vaccinating his own kids.

He promoted unproven measles remedies like budesonide and cod liver oil. Lawmakers and health experts criticized his refusal to advocate for vaccines, calling it irresponsible given his role.

The U.S. has seen over 1,000 measles cases in 2025, with three confirmed deaths.

  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 hours ago

    But this fucker is more than happy to force you to follow his medical opinion by removing previously available, legal, and safe options.

  • brvslvrnst@lemmy.mlEnglish
    3·
    2 hours ago

    The hearings also come as House Republicans work on portions of a bill that propose making deep cuts to Medicaid and could leave millions of people uninsured. Kennedy acknowledged that the legislation — as currently written — would cause people to lose their health insurance, following a question from Sanders. “I can go through the people who will lose it. A million people … there are a million people,” Kennedy said

    Really buried that lede.

  • loki@piefed.socialEnglish
    3·
    3 hours ago

    Dumb people like this forget they can’t just overwrite history like in the middle ages. Internet always remebers. This level of stupidity is going to be (hopefully) remembered for decades to come.

    I get being dumb and paid outrageous amount of money softens or removes that guilt but playing with other people’s life is extremely fucked up thing to do. Especially when there’s a lot of prior research in the field.

  • Salvo@aussie.zoneEnglish
    9·
    10 hours ago

    The headline should be “Kennedy admits that he should not be Health and Human Services Secretary and should not be involved in decisions”