WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family is urging him to resign as health secretary after a controversial congressional hearing last week, where he faced bipartisan scrutiny over his tumultuous governance of federal health agencies.
Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, released strong statements on Friday, demanding he step down from his role leading the Health and Human Services Department.
The influential Democratic family’s demands came after Kennedy defended his recent actions to retract COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and dismiss senior officials at the Centers for Disease Control at a three-hour Senate session.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. poses a threat to the health and well-being of every American,” Joseph P. Kennedy III declared in a post on X. The former congressman continued: “We will all suffer from the harm he is causing.” His aunt supported these statements, asserting that “medical decisions should be made by trained and licensed professionals, not under misguided and incompetent leadership.”
This isn’t the first time Kennedy has angered his family. Some of his relatives opposed his presidential bid in a prior campaign, while others appealed to senators earlier this year, urging them to reject his nomination as Trump’s health secretary, citing his disqualifying views on life-saving vaccines.
Kennedy, an established figure in the anti-vaccine movement, has been advancing his previously niche grassroots agenda to the pinnacle of America’s public health infrastructure for the past seven months. The sweeping reforms to agencies responsible for public health policy and research have led to thousands of job losses and a revamp of vaccine guidelines.
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.
