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# Vaccine Skeptic Kennedy Confirmed as HHS Secretary
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/vaccine-skeptic-kennedy-confirmed-as-hhs-secretary/
- Published: 2025-02-13T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T14:53:09.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5158659

The U.S. Senate has confirmed vaccine skeptic **Robert F. Kennedy Jr.** to serve as HHS secretary. The 52-48 confirmation vote closely mirrored party lines, with only one Republican defection — **Mitch McConnell** (R-KY), who is retiring at the end of his term next year and has often been critical of president **Donald Trump** and some of his cabinet nominees.

During the confirmation process, Kennedy repeatedly claimed he would not support removing access to vaccines, and that he wants more transparency behind the studies that support the products’ use. Despite concerns about Kennedy’s history of being a vaccine skeptic and assertions that they are linked to increases in autism, Senator and physician **Bill Cassidy** (R-LA) abandoned any reservations ([see earlier story](https://www.fdaweb.com/committee-chair-struggles-to-support-kennedy/)) and voted for his confirmation.

“This is a shameful day for the U.S. Senate, an institution that likes to laud itself for its careful deliberation and seriousness of purpose, advocacy group Public Citizen said after the confirmation vote. “We should expect Robert F. Kennedy to continue spreading his conspiracies, anti-vaccine propaganda and anti-science crusade. We should expect him to deliver on his promises to sabotage our public health institutions. And we should expect him to enable and facilitate the effort to slash healthcare coverage for lower-income people, privatize Medicare and undermine the subsidies and consumer protections on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Robert Kennedy’s confirmation puts our entire healthcare system and countless patient lives in jeopardy.”

Senate Finance Committee chairman **Mike Crapo** (R-ID) said after the floor vote that Kennedy will work to put an end to the U.S.’s chronic disease epidemic. “We have got to get into the business of making America healthy again,” said Crapo. “He will bring a fresh perspective to health care, prioritizing consumer choice, information transparency and early interventions to strengthen the well-being of all Americans.

Meanwhile, Kennedy’s confirmation comes at a time when morale at health agencies, including FDA, morale is at a current low due to concerns about job terminations as the Trump Administration purges their ranks and orders federal employees to return to the office beginning next month. Resource constraints are also adding to frustration levels as there is a current hiring freeze, amid plans to restrict future hirings as federal employees accept a restored government buyout offer or are involuntarily terminated. An [executive order](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-workforce-optimization-initiative/?ref=fdaweb.com) signed this week by Trump requires agencies like FDA to hire only one employee for every four that leave employment.

Former FDA Global Regulatory Operations and Policy deputy commissioner **Howard Sklamberg** told the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society ([RAPS](https://www.raps.org/News-and-Articles/News-Articles/2025/2/Experts-FDA-staff-worried-about-unfinished-work,-k?ref=fdaweb.com)) that any government-mandated cuts in staff would disproportionately affect programs funded through the appropriations process and not affect programs that are funded by user fees, such as new drug and device reviews. This would have an unbalanced effect on funding pharmacy compounding activities, import enforcement, food safety inspections, and inspections that are not associated with a user fee-funded process, he told RAPS.

Former FDA associate commissioner and now-president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest **Peter Pitts** told RAPS that what he is “hearing from people inside the FDA at very senior levels is they just want to work and push the pedal to the medal and just do their jobs.” He added that employees would be “frustrated” if they are restrained “from being able to do what they love to do. These are the people you want to keep.”

And former FDA generic drugs official **Robert Pollock** said that FDA employees are more concerned about failing to approve medical products on time than about losing their jobs. Pollock, a senior advisor now at Lachman Consultants, said that his consultancy has received a number of inquiries from people at FDA inquiring about job openings at the firm.

Additionally, the cancer advocacy group Friends of Cancer Research is cautioning that cuts at FDA and NIH will hurt patients, science and the economy. “Drastic cuts to the workforce at the FDA, NIH, and other key health agencies threaten to undermine the very foundation of American scientific leadership, innovation, and public health,” the [group said](https://api.neonemails.com/emails/content/ifkjlgFyqkSGd1Ukuzu1YdLyxxZ72Ebz8XyOsgQtQps=?ref=fdaweb.com). “These agencies are not static bureaucratic institutions—they are the engines of discovery, safety, and progress that fuel the development of life-saving treatments for patients, protect public health, and drive economic growth. They are an integral part of our world-leading biomedical enterprise.

“Maintaining a robust and expert workforce at these agencies,” the group continued, “is critical to ensure the U.S. remains the global leader in biomedical research, pharmaceutical development, regulatory science and timely patient access. Slashing resources without understanding the true needs of these agencies will have serious consequences for patients, slowing down the development and approval of new treatments and technologies.”