RFK Jr. speaking at a rally during his presidential campaign in Feburary 2024 in Surprise, Arizona.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Photo via Creative Commons by Gage Skidmore)

SINCE TAKING OFFICE as health and human services secretary under President Trump, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has launched an agenda aimed at dismantling the public health system as we know it.

Kennedy has let misinformation about vaccines run rampant and reversed Covid-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women, while lifting conspiracy theorists into positions of power over vaccine policy. Those moves have sparked outrage in the scientific community and prompted national health groups to sue Kennedy this week over his assault on science and health.

Kennedy has made massive cuts to the National Institutes of Health and vital research institutions, and Trump’s “big beautiful” tax and spending cut bill, which Republicans passed and he signed last Friday, will result in massive cuts to Medicaid and wreak havoc on hospitals across the country.

One of Kennedy’s latest attacks has been on the CDC’s panel of vaccine experts by gutting the 17 original members and replacing them with eight vaccine skeptics. Even Republican senator Bill Cassidy called Kennedy’s new panel unqualified.

The panel of conspiracists recently discussed the long-standing practices for childhood immunization schedules. Already, we’re seeing global vaccine efforts stall, leaving millions, particularly children, at risk for preventable diseases. 

As a surgeon, I fear for the well-being of my patients. As a mom, I fear for the well-being of my children. As an American, I fear for our country. And as a global citizen, I fear for our world. 

Recently, RFK Jr. pulled funding from the global vaccine group, Gavi. As an organization, Gavi has paid for more than one billion children to be vaccinated through routine immunization programs, saving an estimated 18 million lives. His reasoning for pulling the funding: ignoring the science. The hypocrisy is extraordinary. 

Part of me cannot blame Kennedy for his decisions, as they are based on sheer ignorance. Kennedy has neither a medical education nor medical training.

Kennedy may not have studied the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 that killed 50-100 million people. A vaccine was developed years later, saving countless lives. He may not have studied smallpox either, which killed hundreds of millions of people until its eradication as a result of vaccinations in 1980. Kennedy may not truly know how live-saving vaccines are. 

He makes decisions based not on scientific facts but on misinformation, unproven studies, and health care influencers. How often do we hear the phrase, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet”? Still, vaccine deniers read from the internet rather than from research papers. It’s time for Kennedy to go away from TikTok and pick up a textbook. 

Even Kennedy himself has acknowledged the dangers of his rhetoric, publicly admitting that Americans shouldn’t follow his medical advice—an astonishing admission from the leader responsible for national health. Earlier in the year when asked hypothetically if he would vaccinate his kids for measles, Kennedy responded with “probably.” 

Kennedy’s campaigns actively jeopardize the health of his own supporters, especially those in predominantly conservative states. This misplaced skepticism has already sparked avoidable outbreaks, including measles, underscoring a hazardous hypocrisy at the core of current health and human services leadership. 

America deserves a Department of Health and Human Services focused on confronting real, urgent health challenges through collaborative, evidence-based solutions.

My challenge for RFK and the vaccine panel is this: Listen to the science, consult doctors with different views and opinions, and treat the population as if they were your own family. The vaccine skepticism and rhetoric coming from this administration have already caused parents to have to bury their children. 

Instead of firing and completely shutting out the 17 independent experts that once served on the vaccine panel, RFK Jr. should welcome them back for their takes on science. The evolution of science relies on different expert opinions and analyses. 

There are doctors all around the globe who want to advance science and keep our children safe. The main mission of MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) is to protect our children. Doctors are eager to share their findings and practices with the the health and human services department, Kennedy, and his team of advisors.  

Before Kennedy and the vaccine panel go into work each day, I hope they think of what’s best for their children. Odds are, that’s what’s best for the millions of other children in the United States and across the globe. What can we do to improve the lives of our children? Changing regulated vaccine schedules for children is not the answer. 

As a physician and a mom, I use science to guide the decisions I make for my children. I hope Kennedy will start to do the same in setting policy for the entire country. 

Dr. Anahita Dua is the founder and chair of Healthcare for Action, a political action committee supporting Democratic health care workers running for office, and a vascular surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.