Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Overseeing federal measles response while under fire for past anti-vaccine activism

U.S. measles cases reached 4,852 through Oct. 29, more than double the 2,289 recorded in all of 2025, with weekly growth rising to 5.8% and 511 hospitalizations. Pennsylvania's outbreak now stands at 1,398 cases, 265 hospitalizations and five deaths, the largest state outbreak since the early 1990s.

Updated 3 days ago

In office; CDC funded the trial under his department

Guinea-Bissau has stopped a hepatitis B vaccine trial that would have enrolled 14,000 babies, half of whom would not receive the shot at birth. The study's backers say they never got the government approval the project required. In October, judicial police raided the Bissau offices of the research group running it and seized vaccine batches.

Updated 3 days ago

Active

The CDC reported 5,182 measles cases in 2026 as of November 6, the highest annual total since 1991 and more than double all of 2025, with at least 562 hospitalizations. Children and teenagers make up almost 60 percent of confirmed cases, and 812 cases were in children under 5 as of October 29.

Updated 4 days ago

Pushed the policy through his office over FDA staff opposition

Patients who buy peptide injections online for muscle growth, injury healing and longevity may soon find them at a local pharmacy. Health and Human Services posted a draft policy on October 28 saying it will not penalize small compounding pharmacies that make six peptides the Food and Drug Administration has never approved.

Updated Oct 31

Leads HHS, which launched NEST in Morgantown, West Virginia, on October 9

West Virginia is the first state to receive kits under the national expansion of the Newborn Essentials Support Toolkit, run by the Department of Health and Human Services. About 2,000 kits are expected in the first phase, handed out through WVU Medicine and other health systems, including Valley Health, which joined as a partner on October 12.

Updated Oct 27

Co-chairs the White House Women's Health Task Force

President Trump signed an executive order on October 19 creating a Women's Health Division inside the National Institutes of Health and a White House task force on women's health. The order, published in the Federal Register on October 22 as Executive Order 14437, gives NIH 90 days, until about January 17, to establish the division.

Updated Oct 25

Announced SPECTRA as part of his autism policy agenda

The first SPECTRA deadline has passed. Solution summaries for Technical Area 4, the enabling-technologies track, closed October 21 at 3 p.m. ET, three days later than the original October 18 date, and ARPA-H's program page now lists the track as closed to new submissions.

Updated Oct 22

Party to the Texas v. Kennedy settlement that scaled back Section 504 regulations

A federal judge in Texas vacated the 'most integrated setting' requirement from Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act on September 23, after the Justice Department stopped defending its own rules. The order strikes the definition and several related provisions that have governed federally funded disability programs for nearly 50 years.

Updated Oct 20

Leading the vaccine injury initiative; faces a federal court injunction blocking parts of his changes to the CDC vaccine advisory committee

The federal government opened a dedicated clinic at the National Institutes of Health this month to study and treat people reporting health problems after vaccination. It's the centerpiece of a new agency-wide push by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to document, investigate, and respond to vaccine injuries. An internal memo obtained by NPR says NIH plans an observational study of vaccinated people and possible complications, and may examine vaccine schedules and treatments.

Updated Oct 17

As of September 2026: Report's framing reflects his 'Make America Healthy Again' priorities

One in three American high school students felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2025, down from two in five in 2023 and the lowest share since before the pandemic. The share who seriously considered suicide fell from 20% to 14% in the same two-year stretch.

Updated Sep 25

As of September 2026: Appealing federal court order that suspended ACIP

The federal government has issued official vaccine recommendations for every respiratory season since 1964. This fall, for the first time, that guidance is absent—and four physician groups wrote their own.

Updated Sep 4

As of August 2026: Publicly defending the proposed rule as a return to Head Start's original mission

About a million low-income children attend Head Start each year. A new federal proposal would let the states, not Washington, set most of the rules for their classrooms.

Updated Aug 7

As of July 2026: Rescinded the freeze his department imposed

The Department of Health and Human Services ended its six-month freeze on $10 billion in child care and family-aid money for five states on July 14. The funds, meant for low-income families in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, are flowing again.

Updated Jul 15

As of May 2026: Cancelled federal mRNA vaccine research funding in August 2025

For 80 years, flu vaccines grew in chicken eggs — a process effective against roughly 40% of infections in good years. On May 8, the New England Journal of Medicine published Moderna's Phase 3 data: mRNA-1010 reduced influenza illness by 26.6% more than a standard shot in 40,805 adults aged 50 and older. Moderna's stock rose 16% that day.

Updated May 31

As of May 2026: His promotion of leucovorin for autism was not supported by the FDA's approval

In September 2025, White House officials told parents of autistic children that a cheap, generic drug called leucovorin might improve their children's speech and behavior. Prescriptions surged 71% in the following months, pharmacies ran dry, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed emergency imports from Canada and Spain. On March 10, 2026, the FDA approved leucovorin — but only for a genetic condition so rare that fewer than 50 cases have ever been identified worldwide, not for autism.

Updated May 30

As of May 2026: Serving as HHS Secretary since February 2025

Jay Bhattacharya co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020, publicly opposing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's pandemic response policies. Five years later, he now controls both the CDC and the National Institutes of Health—the two largest federal public health agencies—making him the most powerful health official in America outside the cabinet.

Updated May 29

As of May 2026: Leading HHS; overseeing health agency restructuring

The U.S. joined the WHO on June 14, 1948, three years after helping design the agency, and became the first to withdraw on January 22, 2026, ending 77 years of involvement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited the WHO's 'failures during the COVID-19 pandemic' and its inability to demonstrate independence from 'inappropriate political influence.' The U.S. left without paying between $130 million and $278 million in disputed dues.

Updated May 22

As of May 2026: Leading federal effort to restrict pediatric gender care

Lurie Children's Hospital, which opened the Midwest's first pediatric gender identity clinic in 2013, announced it will no longer prescribe gender-affirming medications to new patients under 18. This came days after HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart referred the hospital for federal investigation.

Updated May 22

As of May 2026: Under pressure after grant termination reversal; AHA implementation stalled without Congressional support

SAMHSA distributed $7.5 billion annually to fight addiction and mental illness. In one year, the Trump administration cut its workforce by more than half, terminated roughly $2 billion in grants in March 2025, and folded the 33-year-old agency into a new structure.

Updated May 21

As of May 2026: Controls key levers over preventive-coverage recommendations after the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling.

People think "preventive care is free" is a fixed promise. It isn't. It's a living list that gets edited through a notice-and-comment process—then quietly becomes binding later when plan years roll over.

Updated May 15

As of May 2026: Charged with expanding research methods and models tied to medical cannabis and hemp-derived cannabinoids

Trump's executive order instructing DOJ to fast-track marijuana's move to Schedule III immediately triggered a familiar split. Public health and industry groups cheered the potential research and tax impacts, while House Republicans organized opposition, urging Trump to keep marijuana in Schedule I.

Updated May 15

As of May 2026: ACIP overhaul leads to adopted hepatitis B policy change now under GAO review

In December 2025, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 8–3 to end the universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth. The committee was reconstituted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On December 16, 2025, Acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill formally adopted the recommendation.

Updated May 10

As of May 2026: Architect of MAHA agenda and vaccine schedule review

In his second term, President Donald Trump is overhauling U.S. childhood vaccination policy. He argues the country gives too many shots compared with its peers. On December 5, 2025, a federal vaccine advisory panel voted 8–3 to end the longstanding hepatitis B shot recommendation for newborns. Trump signed a memorandum ordering the HHS secretary and CDC director to review the childhood schedule and align it where possible with peer countries' practices.

Updated May 10

As of May 2026: Architect of ACIP overhaul and broader vaccine-policy shift

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 8–3 on December 5, 2025 to end the recommendation that every U.S. newborn receive a hepatitis B shot within 24 hours of birth. The committee had been recently overhauled under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill ratified the change on December 16, 2025.

Updated May 9