(NewsNation) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended his decision to fire all members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, saying the new committee is free of pharmaceutical industry conflicts and will ensure all vaccines undergo proper safety testing.
“We wanted to make sure there are people on that panel, for the first time in history, that don’t have conflicts of interest, that are not making money by voting themselves rich,” Kennedy told NewsNation’s “CUOMO” in a Monday interview.
Kennedy cited a 2002 congressional investigation that found 97% of Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices members had conflicts with the pharmaceutical industry, including one case where four of five members approving a Merck vaccine worked for the company.
The health secretary said the number of vaccine doses has increased dramatically from 11 doses of five vaccines in 1986 to 92 doses of 19 vaccines today, claiming none were properly tested for safety.
“Not one of those vaccines was ever tested for safety,” Kennedy said. “This was absolute malpractice, and we’re going to make sure that every vaccine is tested for safety.”
RFK Jr. plans to look at all potential contributing factors of autism
Kennedy highlighted plans to study potential links between vaccines and autism, focusing on eight vaccines given during the first six months of life that he says have never been tested for autism connections.
Kennedy disputed claims that rising autism diagnoses simply reflect better recognition, calling such explanations “an absurd, industry-driven canard.” He cited dramatic increases from 0.7 cases per 10,000 children in 1970 to one in 31 children today.
“If it was just a matter of better diagnosis or better recognition, you would see it in older people. You don’t,” Kennedy said, noting the epidemic appears concentrated in children born after 1989.
The secretary promised to identify environmental toxins causing autism over the next six months, saying genes alone cannot cause epidemics but may create vulnerability to environmental factors.
“We’re going to look at all the potential sources of the ideology of autism, not just vaccines, but food changes, our environment, changes in behavior,” he told NewsNation.
Kennedy said people seek alternative sources of truth when they believe official institutions act against their interests.
He also cited potential contributions from SSRI antidepressants, which carry black box warnings for violence and suicidal ideation, and dietary factors affecting mental health as areas warranting investigation.
“There’s a crisis of dispossession in this country. There’s a crisis of alienation,” Kennedy said, describing a generation lacking purpose and meaningful civic engagement opportunities.
