Attacks on vaccine availability, research and science have characterized the federal health response to immunization under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a group of leading public health professionals said on Capitol Hill this week.

 Flanked by signs declaring "vaccines work," health experts spoke out during a Washington, D.C., event organized by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.. They denounced the ways Kennedy, secretary of state of the U.S. Health and Human Services, has systematically dismantled vaccine trust and demonstrated a reckless disregard for public health needs.

 “Vaccines save lives, they are safe, they are not political tools," said Woodie Kessel, MD, MPH, a 50-year practicing pediatrician and former U.S. assistant surgeon general.

 Under Kennedy’s direction, HHS has canceled studies on mRNA vaccines, replaced qualified scientific advisors with vaccine skeptics, implemented unnecessary testing rules and revived debunked myths about autism. He also ordered CDC to roll back COVID-19 vaccination guidance, despite the highly contagious disease remaining a health threat.

More than 150 children with no underlying conditions died from COVID-19 in 2024, most of whom were unvaccinated, noted Georges Benjamin, MD, APHA executive director. A March poll from Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation found that 79% adults approved of school vaccination requirements, citing vaccine efficacy, safety and testing as reasons for their support.

“The public is with us,” Benjamin said.

Kennedy has also failed to fully back measles vaccinations during the largest outbreak in the U.S. since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. As of early September, over 1,400 measles cases have been reported in 42 states this year.

Most U.S. pediatricians are seeing measles cases for the first time in their careers, Kessel said.

“We know firsthand the fear and anxiety of children when they fall ill,” Kessel said.

 Routine childhood vaccinations against diseases such as mumps, measles, chickenpox and tetanus have prevented over 500 million illnesses and 1 million deaths in recent decades alone. Moreover, between 2020 and 2024, COVID-19 vaccines saved an estimated 2.5 million lives globally, a recent study in JAMA Health Forum estimated.

APHA and other public health leaders have called for Kennedy to be removed from his position.

“We are witnessing now a full-blown assault on science, public health and truth itself,” Sanders said.

Photo caption: Georges Benjamin, executive director of APHA, speaks at a news conference this week on Capitol Hill. Photo courtesy The Nation's Health.