RFK Jr. Gives First Speech to HHS Staff, Focusing on His Priorities
Five days after being sworn in as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Feb. 18 gave a speech via video link to staff members of the Department of Health and Human Services, making clear that he would use his post to challenge widely accepted norms around medicine and science, but promising HHS staffers that he would listen to their input.
As POLITICO’s Chelsea Cirruzzo and Adam Cancryn wrote on Wednesday afternoon, “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. implored federal health agency workers on Tuesday to ‘let go’ of preconceived notions of him and start from ‘square one,’ but he also promised that ‘nothing is going to be off limits’ in his pursuit to reduce chronic disease.” They quoted Kennedy as stating that “Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized. I’m willing to subject them all to the scrutiny of unbiased science.”
Cirruzzo and Cancryn noted that “Kennedy’s comments — his first extended remarks since being confirmed last week — come as Washington reels from firings and funding cuts pursued by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. Among the agencies Musk has targeted are those at HHS, leaving career officials and lawmakers worried about the impact on public health. Kennedy made no mention of the dismissals,” they noted, “only hinted toward his previous comments threatening the jobs of federal agency staff resistant to his reforms. “Those who are unwilling to embrace those kinds of ideas can retire,” they quoted him as saying, and noting that he added that he trusts “the idealism of most of the people who work at HHS.” The speech was intended to be viewed live by HHS staffers, but numerous members of the press found ways to access the address live as well.
Meanwhile, the New York Times’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Christina Jewett wrote on Wednesday afternoon that “In a signal of how he plans to use his new authority, Mr. Kennedy also made clear that he would prod the department, and the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ commission established by President Trump that he will lead, to prioritize topics he cares about but that he said were ‘formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized’ by mainstream scientists.”
Further, they quoted “Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who is among Mr. Kennedy’s most vocal critics,” as saying that “the remarks suggested that Mr. Kennedy did, in fact, have preconceived notions. Dr. Offit also noted that there was a range of explanations for chronic disease that Mr. Kennedy did not mention: genetics; changes in the gut microbiome, the microbes that populate the intestinal tract; the use of certain drugs; and the fact that Americans are living longer and thus facing chronic ailments that come with age,” they added.
“He’s saying that all the scientists before him who have weighed in on the validity of these causes have all been in the pocket of somebody — but not him, he’s going to look behind the curtain, he’s going to tell us what the real truth is,” Dr. Offit told the Times reporters.
With regard to intended policy changes, ABC News’s Anne Flaherty on Wednesday afternoon quoted Kennedy stating during his speech that "We will convene representatives of all viewpoints to study the causes for the drastic rise in chronic disease. Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formally taboo or insufficiently scrutinized." And she wrote that “He then gave a list of these ‘possible factors’ to investigate including the childhood vaccine schedule and "SSRI and other psychiatric drugs," referring to federally approved drugs that help treat such conditions as depression and anxiety. Studies do not suggest vaccines or SSRIs are to blame for chronic illnesses, such as autism or obesity. Critics argue Kennedy's rhetoric could create more doubt and public mistrust of these medicines,” she added. And, she wrote, “Also on his list was electromagnetic radiation, herbicides and pesticides, ultra-processed foods, artificial food, allergies, microplastics and long-lasting chemicals used in the production of non-stick pans. Scientists are actively exploring the possible health impacts of environmental toxins, with some studies suggesting they could play a role in chronic illnesses.” And, she wrote, “Kennedy's willingness to revisit the childhood vaccine schedule appears to be at odds with his Senate testimony in January in which he told skeptical lawmakers that he specifically supported federal recommendations.” At that time, she noted, he testified to the Senate that "I support vaccines. I support the vaccine schedule. I support good science.”
Flaherty quoted Kennedy as extending an olive branch to HHS staffers, telling them, “Let’s all depoliticize these issues and reestablish a common ground for action, and renew the search for existential truth with no political impediments and no preconceptions. I promise to be willing to be wrong.”
