RFK Jr.'s Vaccine Firestorm: Firings, Flip-Flops & a Viral Sneeze

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made waves this week as Health Secretary, with headlines capturing both policy controversies and some truly surreal moments in the national spotlight. On October 2, according to CBS News, Kennedy fired Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo—the leading NIH scientist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—after she filed a whistleblower complaint about policies she argued were jeopardizing public health and undermining vaccine research. Marrazzo, who succeeded Anthony Fauci just two years ago, called her dismissal clear retaliation for raising concerns about the direction of vaccine science under the Trump administration and Kennedy himself. The New York Times echoed the gravity of the move, noting this was the latest in a string of firings targeting scientists who had spoken up about public health dangers.

In a remarkably public pivot on vaccine issues, CounterPunch reported that in a Senate hearing last month, Kennedy both praised President Trump for Operation Warp Speed—which delivered COVID-19 vaccines at record pace—and then immediately questioned whether those vaccines even worked. Yale’s Dr. Robert Steinbrook slammed Kennedy’s contradictory stances, while also warning that Kennedy’s influence is rapidly reshaping federal vaccine policy. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, now filled with Kennedy’s own appointees, has just weakened guidance on childhood and COVID vaccines, alarming the American Academy of Pediatrics and sparking pushes from state governments to counteract what many see as a threat to decades of progress.

Meanwhile, MedPage Today highlighted Kennedy’s recent social media blitz, including a video this week on X where he argued—misleadingly, according to health experts—that major infectious disease deaths plummeted long before vaccines, ignoring mountains of evidence about the role of immunization.

Beyond the policy storm, RFK Jr. showed up at the White House for a tightly controlled yet oddly lighthearted press event, as reported by DRM News. Standing beside President Trump, Kennedy praised Trump’s tenacity in slashing prescription drug prices—crediting him for pushing through the biggest cost cuts ever seen for medications. Kennedy couldn’t resist joking about being at the receiving end of Trump’s relentless midnight calls about health reform.

The social media ecosystem has, unsurprisingly, had a field day—Futurism captured a genuinely bizarre moment when Kennedy sneezed loudly over Trump’s shoulder during a televised Oval Office meeting with the Pfizer CEO. Trump, ever the showman and reportedly a major germaphobe, shot back with a joke about catching COVID, turning what would’ve been a minor health moment into a viral meme.

There’s no denying that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has managed to stake out a role as both headline-maker and political disruptor, with moves whose long-term impact on public health policy—and on his own legacy—are already under fierce debate.

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