This past week, Kennedy delivered a serious blow to public health. He canceled nearly half a billion dollars in research and grants for developing mRNA vaccines. These vaccines are a major scientific breakthrough. They essentially cause a body to produce a small slice of a virus, and that, in turn, triggers the body’s immune response to protect against serious infection. This technology was first deployed to quickly devise Covid vaccines. The wonder with mRNAs is that they can be quickly altered to combat viruses that are changing. Two scientists who made discoveries that led to the development of the mRNA Covid vaccines won the Nobel Prize in 2023, and it’s widely believed that mRNA research will yield other lifesaving vaccines and cancer treatments.
Snuffing out $500 million in mRNA research will likely result in deaths that could have been avoided. Don’t take my word for it. Every story on this Kennedy decision contains quotes from scientists decrying this move. Rick Bright, a prominent virologist, noted in a tweet that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which develops medical countermeasures to address public health threats and emerging infectious diseases, “invested in mRNA technology precisely because it could deliver safe, scalable vaccines in record time, a capability proven during COVID. By dismantling that platform, we’re crippling our front-line defense, just ahead of unknown biological threats.”
In response to Bright, Jerome Adams, a physician and Purdue University professor, commented, “I’ve tried to be objective & non-alarmist in response to current HHS actions – but quite frankly this move is going to cost lives. mRNA technology has uses that go far beyond vaccines…and the vaccine they helped develop in record time is credited with saving millions.” There’s something else you should know about Adams: He was the surgeon general in the first Trump presidency.
Of course, this is not Kennedy’s first anti-vax action. In May, he ripped up a $600 million grant to develop an avian flu vaccine. In June, he removed all the scientific experts on a key vaccine advisory panel and replaced them with a group of people with less expertise that included several aligned with vaccine foes. He has talked down vaccination and promoted restrictions on the use of vaccines.
Kennedy, who is not a vaccine skeptic (as many in the media describe him) but a vaccine opponent, is doing precisely what was expected. The probable outcome will be more disease and death, especially if (or when) another pandemic strikes.
Which brings us back to Cassidy. During Kennedy’s confirmation process, he hemmed and hawed. But he eventually bowed before Trump and backed RFK Jr. During a Senate floor speech explaining his vote, Cassidy said:
Regarding vaccines, Mr. Kennedy has been insistent that he just wants good science and to ensure safety. But on this topic, the science is good, the science is credible. Vaccines save lives. They are safe. They do not cause autism. There are multiple studies that show this. They are a crucial part of our nation’s public health response...Mr. Kennedy and the administration reached out seeking to reassure me regarding their commitment to protecting the public health benefit of vaccination.
To this end, Mr. Kennedy and the administration committed that he and I will have an unprecedently close collaborative working relationship if he is confirmed…Mr. Kennedy has asked for my input into hiring decisions at HHS, beyond Senate-confirmed positions…He has also committed that he would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems and not establish parallel systems. If confirmed, he will maintain the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes.
Kennedy and the Trump administration lied to Cassidy. RFK Jr. is not committed to the “public health benefit of vaccination.” He is pushing the opposite. And he did not maintain that advisory committee on vaccinations “without changes.” He eviscerated it.
Kennedy’s lies are no surprise. During his confirmation hearings, media fact-checkers caught him prevaricating again and again and again. In fact, he lied six minutes into his first confirmation hearing when he testified, “News reports claim I am anti-vaccine…I am not.” At that, a protester in the audience, shouted, “You lie.” She was removed from the hearing room by Capitol Hill police. But she was correct.
Prior to his nomination, Kennedy’s penchant for spewing falsehoods was well documented. In 2023, the Associated Press reported that though Kennedy insisted during his failed presidential run that he was not anti-vaccine, he had a long record of fully and fiercely opposing vaccinations. Along with other journalists, I have reported on his various lies about vaccinations and other matters, including his baseless conspiracy theory that the CIA and a global elite plotted to use a pandemic to end democracy and impose totalitarian control on the entire world. (Not only is he a liar; he's Alex Jones–like bonkers.)
When Kennedy was nominated by Trump, his cousin Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John Kennedy, sent a letter to Cassidy and other senators that was unequivocal: “Bobby has gone on to misrepresent, lie, and cheat his way through life…Even before he fills this job, his constant denigration of our health care system and the conspiratorial half-truths he has told about vaccines, including in connection with Samoa’s deadly 2019 measles outbreak, have cost lives.”
There was no good reason for Cassidy to trust Kennedy. For years, Kennedy had demonstrated that his word was rotten and his beliefs often untethered to reality. And it was evident that he would say anything at his confirmation hearings to attain this position so he could implement an anti-vax agenda. He didn’t bamboozle Cassidy. Cassidy bamboozled himself, acting as if the “assurances” of Kennedy and Trump had any value. Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump on impeachment charges related to the January 6 riot. (“Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person,” he said. “I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty.") Yet he did not have the fortitude to say no to Trump and Kennedy. Who knows how many people might perish because of this?
During Kennedy’s confirmation hearings, Cassidy failed to behave as any good doctor should: He did not address the core problem—that Kennedy is a lying charlatan. The symptoms were there. The condition was easy to diagnose. Cassidy chose to avoid the obvious. This was political malpractice.
Now Cassidy is upset with Kennedy. “It is unfortunate that the Secretary just canceled a half a billion worth of work, wasting the money which is already invested,” he complained on X. “He has also conceded to China an important technology needed to combat cancer and infectious disease. President Trump wants to Make America Healthy Again and Make America Great Again. This works against both of President Trump’s goals.”
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