RFK Jr. repeats vaccine misinformation in Congressional testimony

Since taking office, Kennedy has restricted who can receive Covid-19 vaccines, cut off federal research grants for the mRNA technology that powered the shots and announced new research based on debunked claims about autism (archived here, here and here).

The September 4, 2025 hearing often erupted into shouting matches. It came a week after President Donald Trump's administration ousted Susan Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), plunging the nation's premier public health agency into turmoil.

Kennedy's testimony included false and misleading statements, notably about vaccines (archived here).

AFP examined three key claims the secretary made about vaccines.

On childhood vaccines: "Only one of those have ever been tested against an inert placebo."

Asked by Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming how he would ensure vaccine guidance is "clear, evidence-based and trustworthy," Kennedy touted placebo testing requirements for new vaccines seeking approval.

He said only one major childhood vaccine had "ever been tested against an inert placebo."

Many childhood vaccines were originally tested in randomized clinical trials that included placebo or comparison groups, however, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (archived here).

Kennedy and others have spun misleading narratives about vaccine testing for years. But US and global health authorities have long debated ethical considerations of using a placebo in trials.

The World Health Organization states that it may be ethical to use placebos when there is no known safe and effective vaccine available, but that it is "clearly unacceptable" to subject participants to the risks of delaying or foregoing a shot that could prevent a harmful disease (archived here).

In May, when Kennedy announced the testing changes, WHO vaccine chief Kate O'Brien said that vaccines developed to cover new strains and combination shots created to reduce the number of injections children receive are generally tested to see if they are as or more effective than the existing options.

Kelly Moore, president and CEO of the nonprofit Immunize.org, also told AFP that clinical trial participants must be offered the existing standard of care (archived here).

It would be "entirely unethical" to withhold existing vaccines during testing, she said.

On Covid-19 vaccines in 2025: "Everybody can get the vaccine."

When New Hampshire Democratic Senator Maggy Hassan asserted that access to Covid-19 shots and boosters will be restricted this fall, Kennedy replied: "Everybody can get the vaccine."

Guidance the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released August 27 revoked the emergency use authorization for Covid-19 vaccines and limited recommendations for the shot to people age 65 and older, or people 6 months and older with underlying health conditions that increase their risk of severe Covid-19 infection (archived here and here).

Announcing the change at the time on X, Kennedy said: "These vaccines are available for all patients who choose them after consulting with their doctors" (archived here).

The narrowed criteria is more in line with current recommendations in Europe, but it may lead US insurance companies to drop coverage of the shots for healthy individuals who want them (archived here).

There are also states where pharmacists are only permitted to vaccinate people who qualify under FDA and CDC guidelines. CBS reported that US pharmacy chains CVS and Walmart are now requiring a prescription or not offering the shot in several states.

Florida has since announced it would end all immunization requirements, including at schools, while a West Coast alliance of California, Washington and Oregon said they would make their own vaccine-recommendation body to counter Kennedy's influence at the national level.

On Covid-19 vaccines: "Did it save a million lives? Well there's no data to support that."

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall asked the secretary if he wanted to clear up anything said in the hearing about mortality tied to Covid-19 and vaccines. Kennedy responded: "Did it save a million lives? Well there's not data to support that."

Most experts agree with a 2022 paper published in the Lancet, an international medical journal, that estimated vaccinations prevented 14.4 million deaths from Covid-19 in 185 countries and territories in their first year of availability (archived here).

CDC data found that Covid-19 vaccination prevented an estimated 235,000 deaths in the United States between December 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021 among vaccinated adults 18 years or older (archived here).

The figures are based on mathematical modeling -- a peer-reviewed, scientifically accepted prediction that Kennedy went on to dismiss.

Data released by the CDC under Kennedy in 2025 further shows that more than 5,000 in-hospital deaths were averted by vaccination from October 2023 to April 2024 (archived here).

More of AFP's reporting on vaccine misinformation is available here.