(NEW YORK) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the vaccine-skeptic group Children’s Health Defense on Thursday they have “a friend in the White House” in President Donald Trump.
Kennedy delivered the keynote address in Washington, D.C., at a conference hosted by the group, noting that Trump has given directives to strengthen research, transparency and parental choice around childhood vaccines.
“Let me be clear. You have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy also said he wanted to make more sweeping changes on “day one” but couldn’t do so due to “procedures.”
“In government, a bunch of things have to happen before something else happens or you get sued,” he said. “It’s a very laborious system and there’s a lot of inertia built in that … if we were able to overcome it we would have changed things on day one, but those would have been short-lived and I would have been out of a job because I have to manage my agency competently according to the law and according to procedures.”
Children’s Health Defense, which advocates against the recommended vaccine schedule for children, was co-founded by Kennedy. He resigned from the board ahead of his confirmation as HHS Secretary.
The group described the conference as a “timely conversation [that] will take place against a backdrop of unprecedented opportunity and risk for the health freedom movement.”
Also scheduled to appear were Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky, as well as Republican Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
Dr. Fiona Havers, an infectious diseases physician and a former leading vaccine expert at the CDC, said the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) has spread false and misleading information “that has contributed directly to declining vaccination rates across the country.”
“Americans are now tragically experiencing the direct consequences of this, with more than 3,000 measles cases this year and four measles-related deaths reported in just the last few weeks,” Havers told ABC News in a statement. “By speaking at CHD’s conference, RFK Jr. is using his position as the U.S. government’s top public health official in a way that legitimizes CHD’s anti-vaccine message and undercuts efforts by CDC, state health agencies, clinicians and others to get these outbreaks under control.”
The HHS did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.
Kennedy said that Trump asked him to “vigorously investigate the potential contribution of childhood vaccines to the chronic disease epidemic.”
Kennedy claimed that children went from receiving three vaccines when he was a child to 94 doses of 18 vaccines currently. Doctors have previously told ABC News that excluding annual flu and COVID-19 shots, children generally receive roughly 30 vaccine doses — many in combined injections — before the age of 18
“The question is … should we be looking at the potential that some of these chronic illnesses are associated with vaccines?” Kennedy said.
“As you can see, many of these adverse events [from vaccines] include diseases, chronic illnesses that are part of the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said later in his speech. “In other words, illnesses that became suddenly epidemic in our kids after 1989.”
The year 1989 was also when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommended children receive a second measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) dose, although Kennedy did not mention that specific vaccine.
Extensive scientific research has shown no causal link between the MMR vaccine and the development of chronic diseases.
During his confirmation hearings in 2025, Kennedy said he wouldn’t prevent access to vaccines, saying that he supports vaccines. Since then, he’s also said he believes the choice should be left up to parents.
Last year, Kennedy dismissed all 17 members of the ACIP and appointed his own hand-selected members.
The committee then voted to remove the universal recommendation for the hepatitis B shot at birth and to narrow existing recommendations for the combined MMRV shot that protects against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox.
The group also voted against recommending flu vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, which is used to prevent microbial contamination of vaccines. Most flu vaccines currently used in the U.S. contain little to no thimerosal, but both the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC say there is no evidence that low doses of thimerosal in vaccines cause harm other than minor reactions at the injection site, such as redness or swelling.
Additionally, at the beginning of this year, Kennedy made changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, reducing the number of recommended shots from 17 to 11.
In March, a federal Massachusetts judge blocked changes to the vaccine schedule, suspended the appointments of the 13 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee and stayed all votes taken by the Kennedy-nominated members.
Kennedy said during his speech that he would not comment on the judge’s ruling because the case remains in litigation.
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