Kennedy family urges RFK Jr. to resign from HHS amid backlash over COVID-19 vaccine stance

Members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family are joining in on calls for him to step down as Secretary of the Health and Human Services department following a contentious congressional hearing last week.

Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, issued statements on Friday, calling for him to resign from his role.

The calls come one day after Kennedy had to stand before the Senate and defend his recent efforts to pullback COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and fire high-level officials at the Centers for Disease Control during a three-hour hearing.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a threat to the health and wellbeing of every American,” Joseph P. Kennedy III said in a post on X. “None of us will be spared the pain he is inflicting.”

RFK’s sister added to those claims, saying “medical decisions belong in the hands of trained and licensed professionals, not incompetent and misguided leadership.”

This is not the first time Kennedy has fallen under fire by his prominent Democratic family. Several of his relatives objected to his presidential run, while others wrote to senators, calling for them to reject his nomination to be Trump’s health secretary.

Kennedy has been a longtime leader of the anti-vaccine movement and has spent the last seven months in his role pushing his views through the American public health system. Many of his changes to agencies responsible for public health policy and scientific research have resulted in thousands of layoffs and the remaking of vaccine guidelines.

The drastic changes have even led to medical groups and officials in several Democratic-led states to respond with their own vaccine advice.


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