Asked about the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak this week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed confidence about facing down the threat: “We have this under control and we’re not worried about it.” Unfortunately, his track record on infectious disease should give one no confidence in his confidence.
We have had a bit more than a year now of a Department of Health and Human Services headed by RFK, Jr. The evidence is growing by the day that this was a disastrous appointment. Kennedy has dropped recommendations for several children’s vaccines (hepatitis A, meningitis, rotavirus and the flu), and children’s vaccination rates are plummeting to levels below those needed to prevent transmission of a number of serious childhood illnesses that were previously well under control or nearly eradicated. Research on mRNA vaccines has been the target of a cancellation effort by Kennedy’s HHS, which will handicap our ability to respond to new viral threats.