RFK Jr. renews anti-vaccine push at CHD conference — SkimNews
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- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used his CHD keynote to spend over 20 minutes casting doubt on vaccine safety, asking whether vaccines could be associated with chronic illness and citing a Hepatitis B package insert as proof of inadequate testing.
- Kennedy highlighted that the Hep B insert showed 147 participants 'monitored for only five days' with 'no placebo' — though the FDA accepted those trials alongside data from thousands of babies vaccinated with an older version of the shot.
- HHS is now researching over 150 adverse events reported after vaccination and is building an expansive data project pulling from Medicare, Medicaid, state records, and private insurers to examine vaccine safety.
- The Trump administration ended universal newborn hepatitis B vaccination last year, a policy that had driven a 99% drop in chronic Hep B infections among children and teens.
- Kennedy told the crowd he has Trump's full backing — 'You have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House' — and his speech comes before midterm elections that could determine the viability of his MAHA agenda.
- As Kennedy walked offstage, conference organizers introduced Andrew Wakefield, the discredited British physician whose late-1990s work helped launch the anti-vaccine movement, as the next speaker.
Why it matters: Kennedy has made anti-vaccine advocacy central to his identity as health secretary, delivering the speech at an event where Andrew Wakefield was the next speaker and telling the crowd he has Trump's explicit backing — all weeks before midterm elections that could determine his agenda's viability. His agency's changes to the childhood immunization schedule are already the subject of an ongoing lawsuit, meaning the rhetoric translates directly into contested federal policy.
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