In 2020, as a pandemic raged throughout the globe, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took to social media to attraction to his tons of of 1000’s of followers on Fb.
The son of the late U.S. Legal professional Normal and New York Sen. Bobby Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, the youthful Kennedy mentioned he was in search of mother and father whose kids had been vaccinated towards a unique virus — human papillomavirus or HPV — and later grew sick.
Public well being researchers and docs mentioned there was no proof that the vaccine, Gardasil, was linked to the well being issues he cited, noting 160 favorable research on security. A federal courtroom created to compensate individuals injured by vaccines additionally had already rejected an identical declare, citing “inadequate proof” that the vaccine was behind the plaintiff’s well being points.
However in his posts, Kennedy mentioned that he and lawyer Michael Baum – “considered one of my closest buddies” — believed there was nonetheless a path ahead. The households might sue the producer Merck in civil courtroom claiming advertising and marketing fraud – allegations Merck denies.
“When you have been injured by Gardasil, name us,” Kennedy wrote on Fb, posting a toll-free quantity invoking his well-known initials “RFK.”
In accordance with monetary disclosure paperwork launched final week, Kennedy’s major supply of revenue up to now 12 months have been massive sums of referral charges from a number of regulation companies, together with Baum’s workplace, whose civil lawsuit towards Merck’s Gardasil vaccine went to trial in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom final week.
Kennedy’s main position in constructing a case towards Merck is now elevating questions on how he may wield his energy because the nation’s subsequent well being secretary – a job meant as an neutral overseer in public well being – whereas in line for potential payouts from a significant pharmaceutical firm.
“This disclosure exhibits that RFK Jr. made tens of millions off of peddling harmful anti-vaccine conspiracies,” mentioned Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which is able to oversee Kennedy’s nomination.
“Even worse, if he’s confirmed, his funds will nonetheless be tied to the outcomes of anti-vaccine lawsuits — at the same time as he’d be tasked with regulating them as well being secretary. These are outrageous conflicts of curiosity that endanger public well being,” Warren mentioned in an announcement offered to reporters.
Kennedy, who is anticipated to testify for the primary time Wednesday earlier than the Senate panel, mentioned he has resigned his work with a number of regulation companies, together with Wisner Baum, and that if confirmed he wouldn’t be concerned in authorized circumstances.
However in a plan greenlit by federal ethics officers, Kennedy mentioned he plans to retain his proper to 10 % of charges awarded in contingency circumstances with Wisner Baum as long as the circumstances do not contain the U.S. authorities. The federal authorities will not be a celebration within the civil lawsuit towards Merck.
“I’m entitled to obtain a portion of future restoration in these circumstances based mostly upon the set share as set forth within the referral settlement,” he wrote.
Kennedy disclosed one other $856,559 in revenue from Wisner Baum referral charges, though the paperwork don’t say which authorized circumstances have been tied to these charges. Different revenue included $8.8 million from his agency Kennedy & Madonna. Kennedy mentioned he was terminating his relationship with the agency, which might now not use his identify.
A spokesperson for Kennedy declined to touch upon the document on the Wisner Baum payouts and ongoing lawsuit. Baum didn’t reply to a request for remark.
In an announcement on the civil lawsuit, Merck mentioned “an amazing physique of scientific proof, together with greater than 30 years of analysis and improvement together with actual world proof generated by Merck and by unbiased investigators, continues to assist the security and efficacy of our HPV vaccines. The plaintiff’s allegations haven’t any benefit, and we stay dedicated to vigorously defending towards these claims.”
Robert Krakow, a New York lawyer who makes a speciality of vaccine damage circumstances and has labored with Kennedy up to now, mentioned referral charges are pretty customary relating to private damage claims.
Kennedy has been a “galvanizing power” when it got here to questioning vaccine security, offering a particular contact when speaking to households as a result of “he was very honest and listened to individuals,” Krakow mentioned. Utilizing social media platforms to recruit shoppers is a pure extension of that work, he mentioned.
“It isn’t usually you might have a star try this,” Krawkow mentioned of Kennedy’s work to search out shoppers who declare vaccine accidents. “However there’s nothing inherently unsuitable with recruiting individuals for referral charges.”
Reuters was first to report Kennedy’s in depth position within the Gardasil vaccine lawsuit.
As a result of Kennedy’s monetary association was allowed by ethics officers, it is not clear whether or not the difficulty can be a sticking level for Republicans desirous to align with Trump. In accordance with the settlement launched final week, Kennedy can hold the charges from Wisner Baum as long as the unbiased ethics workplace on the Well being and Human Companies Division determines the case does “not contain the USA as a celebration and by which the USA doesn’t have a direct and substantial curiosity.”
Kennedy additionally has insisted in non-public conferences with senators that he’s not “anti-vaccine,” however solely desires extra examine, in line with one particular person accustomed to the discussions.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Well being and Human Companies (HHS) nominee of President-elect Donald Trump, arrives to the sixtieth presidential inauguration within the rotunda of the Capitol, Jan. 20, 2025.
Kenny Holston/The New York Occasions/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs
The messaging aligns with what Kennedy has mentioned publicly. Kennedy usually notes he was vaccinated as a baby and opted to vaccinate his personal kids many years in the past. His work as chair and chief litigator of the Kids’s Heath Protection, which opposes the really useful schedule of vaccines for youngsters, didn’t start till round 2015.
“What I’ve mentioned is I am pro-science and pro-safety,” he informed an area New Hampshire tv station in 2023.
Nonetheless, public well being consultants and plenty of senators — a number of of them sufficiently old to recollect critical outbreaks of measles and polio within the Nineteen Fifties — have expressed critical considerations about his position in eroding confidence in vaccines even when he says he will not outright block entry to them.
“We probably face a large well being hazard, possibly particularly for our youngsters,” mentioned Sen. Bernie Sanders, the highest Democrat on the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Sanders, a Vermont Democrat who had been seen as somebody who may be capable to discover widespread floor with Kennedy on environmental and meals coverage, mentioned the priority with the incoming administration was that “we could revert again to these horrible days when so many kids died” earlier than age 3.
As head of the Well being and Human Companies Division, Kennedy could be accountable for the Meals and Drug Administration, which regulates the promoting and advertising and marketing of vaccines, and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, which collects knowledge on vaccines to situation public well being suggestions which are carefully adopted by docs.
If confirmed, he might insist upon appointing vaccine skeptics to the unbiased group that opinions FDA knowledge on vaccines.
Kennedy additionally might alter how data is used from CDC’s public reporting system generally known as “VAERS” that permits anybody to flag potential antagonistic reactions from vaccines. The reviews are unverified however used to search for potential patterns that may be investigated.
Well being officers say signs reported in VAERS are sometimes discovered to be unrelated from an individual’s immunization historical past.
Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Regulation San Francisco and knowledgeable in authorized points on vaccinations, mentioned handing over that course of to somebody with Kennedy’s monitor document could be unprecedented.
“Kennedy has been a dedicated anti-vaccine activist for a very long time. I’ve seen no indication that his views have modified,” Reiss mentioned.
ABC’s Sony Salzman and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
