RFK Jr. departs from key vaccine pledges during first year as HHS secretary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s initial year leading the Department of Health and Human Services has unfolded very differently from the assurances he offered during confirmation. He entered office promising to preserve existing vaccine guidance and funding streams, but then moved quickly to replace the membership of the CDC’s advisory committee on immunizations and install voices skeptical of certain vaccines. Within months the CDC scaled back universal endorsements for seven childhood immunizations, shifting them to targeted or consultative recommendations. Simultaneously, the agency halted the use of roughly $11 billion in pandemic-era grants that had been sustaining local vaccination programs, triggering litigation that forced federal courts to intervene. NIH also curtailed multiple grants studying vaccine hesitancy, and an HHS decision terminated about $500 million in mRNA vaccine research. These policy reversals have immediate operational effects: local health departments lost predictable funding, researchers saw projects shelved, and clinicians faced new ambiguity when advising families. The changes upend assumptions about childhood immunization norms that public-health officials say have prevented substantial morbidity and mortality. Legally and politically, the secretary’s moves invite oversight: senators who conditioned their support on specific commitments have pressed for explanations while state and local agencies scramble to adapt. The public-health consequences will play out over time, with a measurable risk of increased vaccine-preventable illness if coverage declines. The administration frames the actions as recalibration and enhanced scrutiny; critics call them ideological shifts that compromise evidence-based practice. For health systems and researchers, the result is greater uncertainty about funding stability and federal guidance. Absent rapid corrective steps, trust in national immunization programs and the agencies that manage them may erode, complicating future outbreak responses. The immediate bottom line is that assurances given during confirmation have not held, and the fallout will be monitored by courts, Congress and the public-health community.