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Health secretary says ‘I had nothing to do with the measles outbreak’ and claims to support measles and MMR vaccinesHealth secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr faced intense questioning from several US senators on Wednesday during a hearing largely focused on how the administration has responded to the measles outbreak and the spread of vaccine misinformation.In his opening remarks to the Senate finance committee, the senator Ron Wyden criticized Kennedy’s messaging on vaccines, saying: “When it comes to vaccines, Robert Kennedy has used this once-in-a-lifetime platform to make parents doubt themselves and doubt their doctors,” before adding: “The secretary has ducked, bobbed and weaved without taking the responsibility of saying what needs to be said: vaccines save lives in America.” Continue reading...

Secretary Kennedy Podcast so far seems designed to promote Trump administration talking points over any specific public health messageRobert F Kennedy Jr’s new Secretary Kennedy Podcast is a show that, so far, appears designed to promote Trump administration talking points over any specific public health message.Though, based on the trailer and episode one, which dropped last week, one might expect the Secretary Kennedy Podcast to be quite similar to the health secretary’s former show, The RFK Jr Podcast. In the trailer that dropped ahead of his new podcast’s release, Kennedy says: “Children are sicker, chronic disease is exploding and the answers we’ve been given aren’t working” – talking points that were common on his old series. He even adds: “Many of us have come to the conclusion that the government actually lies to us,” a statement that might have served his former podcast better, given that Kennedy is now a senior figure in the government. Continue reading...

• Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaccine voice, praised President Trump's nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC Director and expressed his intention to work with her to restore the agency's mission. • Kennedy's public endorsement of the pro-vaccine nominee marked a sharp reversal from his previously hard-line stance on CDC leadership and sparked significant backlash among MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) loyalists online. • The shift comes amid congressional scrutiny of Kennedy's conflicting rhetoric on measles vaccination safety during a Thursday hearing, as measles outbreaks rise across the U.S.

Health secretary and chef Robert Irvine claim Americans could eat healthier and more cheaply if they shopped betterSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe first episode of the new Secretary Kennedy Podcast, produced by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), opens with this quote from guest Robert Irvine, who creates meal plans for the US military: “We talk about food being expensive. If you’re buying expensive food, it’s expensive. But if you’re buying food and you know what to do with it, it’s not expensive.”The episode is titled Fixing America’s Food System – Robert Irvine, and features a 45-minute conversation with the HHS secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the host of the show, and guest Irvine. Best known as a celebrity chef, Irvine has collaborated with the US military to launch Victory Fresh, a program that offers healthy grab-and-go meals on military bases, during the Biden administration. The program’s Biden-era origins are never acknowledged during the show. Continue reading...

Trump ally grilled by lawmakers over ‘terrible decisions’ on vaccines, public health and funding cuts to key programsUS politics – latest updatesVaccines and public health dominated a frequently contentious hearing with Robert F Kennedy Jr on Thursday before the US House ways and means committee.Kennedy, the controversial health secretary and a longtime vaccine opponent, has overseen sweeping changes to routine vaccination recommendations and has promoted misinformation even amid the biggest measles outbreak in decades. Continue reading...

Health secretary in a diary entry said his kids were in the car as he cut off animal’s genitals in 2001 to ‘study them later’Robert F Kennedy Jr once cut the penis off a road-killed raccoon in an incident that is just one of several involving dead animals that the controversial US health secretary has been involved in.A new book called RFK Jr: The Fall and Rise was published this week and reveals a diary entry for Kennedy that describes the prominent vaccine critic and leader of the “Make America healthy again” (Maha) movement stopping his car on a New York highway on 11 November 2001. Continue reading...

Judge rules that Trump’s health secretary did not go through proper procedures when issuing declarationRobert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, overstepped his power when he declared that gender-affirming treatments are unsafe, a federal judge has ruled.In a blow to the Trump administration’s attempts to limit access to gender transition procedures, Judge Mustafa Kasubhai ruled Thursday that Kennedy did not go through the proper procedures when issuing his 12-page declaration last December. Continue reading...

Kennedy’s appointees promoted ‘treatments’ like bleach enemas, but new committee has only one autistic memberThe first public meeting of US autism advisers – notably, since Robert F Kennedy Jr reshaped the committee – was cancelled recently with few details, coinciding with the creation of a rival organization that has prompted some questions within the autistic community about their focus.Kennedy, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who has long argued for a debunked link between vaccines and autism, chose entirely new members for the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) in late January, with fewer autistic people and several anti-vaccine advocates. Continue reading...

• A federal judge on Monday blocked HHS from implementing vaccine policy changes made by RFK Jr.'s revamped CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), reversing all recent decisions. • The ruling leaves unresolved the status of the RSV vaccine for infants, potentially making it no longer free for children who need it, as its inclusion was authorized by the current advisers. • Public health experts are scrambling to understand ramifications, with health groups concerned about unintended harms and weakened vaccination recommendations for hepatitis B and COVID-19.

Records shed light on how Scott Brown – then Trump’s New Zealand ambassador, now running for Senate – responded to Kennedy’s 2019 Samoa trip ahead of measles outbreakWhen Robert F Kennedy Jr ran for president as a Democrat in 2023, he found an unexpected ally in Scott Brown. A former Republican senator, Brown had begun a tradition of hosting Republican presidential candidates for barbecues in his New Hampshire back yard, where they could stump for votes and get attention ahead of the state’s crucial primary.Kennedy became Brown’s first Democratic invitee. His appearance in September 2023 drew hundreds of people, Brown’s biggest crowd ever. Kennedy held Brown in such high regard that after he decided to run instead as an independent, he reportedly reached out to Brown as a possible vice-presidential running mate, though Brown declined. Continue reading...

• A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled on Monday to block Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recent changes to the nation's childhood vaccine schedule, following a lawsuit by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups. • The plaintiffs argued that Kennedy's alterations to vaccine recommendations and the influential vaccine advisory committee violated federal law, marking a significant setback to his health policy agenda. • This ruling highlights ongoing tensions between the Department of Health and Human Services and medical organizations over public health guidelines and federal compliance.

Unprecedented changes to routine US immunization recommendations ‘arbitrary and capricious’, court saysSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe appointment of a controversial slate of vaccine advisers by Robert F Kennedy Jr likely violated federal law, and all votes taken by the committee over the past year have been stayed, a federal judge ruled on Monday.The advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) is not able to meet later this week, since its membership has been invalidated, the judge said. Continue reading...