During his first address to staff as Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called for a new era of “radical transparency” at the department while pursuing his “main mission” to “reverse the chronic disease epidemic in America.”
Acknowledging some of the lingering concerns about him, Kennedy, 71, pleaded with staff at the Department of HHS to “let go” of their preconceived thoughts about him, while warning that “those who are unwilling to embrace” transparency and openness “can retire.”
“I’m not going to come in here and impose my belief over any of yours,” Kennedy said. “My goal as secretary here at HHS will be to create a culture of competency, of ethics, of openness, of transparency, of caring, and of pride so that individuals who share these ideals can flourish and thrive.
“We will make our data and our policy process so transparent that people won’t even have to file a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request.”
Kennedy had faced a bruising confirmation process before ultimately clearing the Senate and being confirmed as HHS secretary last week.
Senators had grilled him over his past vaccine skepticism and other health-related theories he flirted with in the past.
During his address, the Kennedy scion reiterated his intention of departing from certain orthodoxies in health care while seeking to combat the dramatic spike in chronic ailments.
“Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized,” Kennedy said before giving examples: “The childhood vaccine schedule, electromagnetic radiation, glyphosate, other pesticides, ultra-processed foods, artificial food additives, SSRI and other psychiatric drugs, PFAs, PFOAs, microplastics.”
“Nothing is going to be off limits,” Kennedy declared. “Whatever belief or suspicion I have expressed in the past I’m willing to subject them all to the scrutiny of unbiased science.”
This had been a key point of consternation during his Senate confirmation when lawmakers seemed uneasy about Kennedy’s past views on vaccines.
“I’m going to keep asking questions but hold my preconceived answers lightly. I’m willing to be wrong,” he added.
President Trump, who forged an alliance with Kennedy last August, signed an executive order last week to establish a “Make America Healthy Again Commission” to probe the rise in chronic ailments.
Kennedy vowed to “convene representatives from all viewpoints” to participate in that investigation.
He called for the agency to ensure scientists are “protocols that we all agree on in advance and not alter the outcomes of the studies” and to not let “political impediments” or “preconceptions” spoil critical research.
The HHS secretary further pledged to “shut the revolving door” between the health industry and the government. Kennedy also said he’d work to “remove conflicts of interest from the committees and research partners whenever possible” or to “balance them.”
“This is how the agencies under the HHS umbrella will recover their reputations as unimpeachable sources of scientific information to guide policy making, medical professionals, the public, and the whole world,” Kennedy stressed.
HSS oversees a constellation of federal health agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and more.
