Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could use Health and Human Services’ vast bureaucracy to put a distinct stamp on vaccine policy, drug approvals and food regulation if he’s confirmed. But with so many legal requirements and bureaucratic layers baked into the process, it’s hardly a foregone conclusion he will.
Why it matters: Experts say RFK Jr.’s public calls for more transparency and vows to shore up the trustworthiness of federal health agencies may translate into more requests for vaccine safety data and into appointing like-minded individuals to advisory panels that could influence coverage of drugs, services and devices.
- They also say it could result in shifting public health funding to chronic disease or environmental health and away from infectious disease, or a diversion of federal investment to study unproven health issues instead of known risks.
- And they’re expecting attempts to remove job protections from career federal employees who work in policymaking roles and reduce the ranks of officials who don’t align with RFK Jr.’s goals.
Between the lines: In the near term, he’s likely to focus on how much influence he might exert on negotiations between the Food and Drug Administration and the health industries it regulates over user fees for companies, which fund a significant portion of the FDA’s operations.
- Talks to reauthorize programs for prescription drugs, medical devices and generics are due to start next year and could provide a crucible for Trump appointees to take aim at what they describe as regulators’ coziness with industries they police.
- The spotlight could fall especially hard on vaccines, based on Kennedy’s criticisms of the federal pandemic response, his calls to revoke emergency use authorizations for COVID shots and his advocacy of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, both of which were found ineffective for treating the virus.
Hellbound and Down 