Trump Pressures RFK Jr. to Escalate Vaccine Policy
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- Donald Trump has been privately pushing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ramp up vaccine policy — including probing the alleged vaccine-autism link and reducing the number of childhood shots — per a WSJ report that a source close to HHS and the White House texted was "💯 true."
- HHS's leadership reboot, launched ahead of midterms to project stability, is "under strain" with sources telling Axios vaccine-skeptical rhetoric and policy will resume after elections; former Trump-era HHS official David Mansdoerfer said he expects "many of MAHA's goals will reappear."
- The earlier reset included the departures of FDA commissioner Marty Makary and top regulator Vinay Prasad, the elevation of Chris Klomp to effective chief of staff (now nominated as deputy secretary), and the withdrawal of controversial surgeon general nominee Casey Means.
- The Senate health committee Thursday approved both Sean Kaufman as ASPR head — despite his past anti-vaccine statements — and Erica Schwartz as CDC director, with Schwartz's nomination earning a Democratic vote and "significantly less drama."
- Trump's pressure is likely to extend Kennedy's tenure through the rest of the administration; a source told Axios "of course this means that the Secretary will stay to the end of the Administration," countering widespread speculation he'd leave after midterms.
- Many of Kennedy's most controversial vaccine actions either never materialized or were blocked by courts, but attorney Richard Hughes — who is leading the legal fight against HHS vaccine schedule changes — said Trump "may continue to try to break the law and interfere with what should be evidence-based vaccine policy."
Why it matters: The midterm-driven vaccine restraint at HHS was always political, not principled, and Trump's direct pressure on Kennedy now signals a return to the agency's most controversial instincts once elections pass. Sources close to the administration expect vaccine-skeptical rhetoric and policy to resume within months, and the biotech industry that welcomed the Makary/Prasad-era reset may find that stability was only temporary.
