WASHINGTON – Members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family are urging him to resign from his position as health secretary following a heated congressional hearing last week, where the Trump administration official faced bipartisan scrutiny over his controversial management of federal health bodies.
Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, released critical statements on Friday demanding his resignation from the Health and Human Services Department.
Their appeals came after Kennedy had to justify his recent actions to scale back COVID-19 vaccine guidelines and dismiss senior officials at the CDC during a lengthy Senate session.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. poses a threat to the health and safety of all Americans,” Joseph P. Kennedy III stated on X. The former congressman also remarked: “No one will escape the harm he is causing.” His aunt supported these sentiments, arguing that “medical decisions should be made by qualified and accredited individuals, not by inept and ill-informed authorities.”
Kennedy has previously faced criticism from his family. Many objected to his presidential candidacy in the last election, and some wrote to senators earlier this year urging them to oppose his appointment as Trump’s health secretary, citing his objectionable views on vital vaccines.
As a long-standing advocate of the anti-vaccine movement, Kennedy has spent the past seven months advancing this once-fringe movement to the forefront of America’s public health system. His significant changes to the agencies responsible for public health policy and research have led to thousands of job cuts and a transformation of vaccine directives.
The moves — some of which contradict assurances he made during his confirmation hearings — have rattled medical groups and officials in several Democratic-led states, which have responded with their own vaccine advice.
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