A Democracy Drive Thread
A vaccine skeptic running the nation’s health agencies — mass layoffs, a measles outbreak, the CDC vaccine panel purged, mRNA research cancelled, and junk science elevated.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a longtime vaccine skeptic — was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services in February 2025 and set about remaking the nation’s health agencies around his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. This thread tracks, in chronological order and with sources, the consequences: the staff and programs cut, the vaccine infrastructure dismantled, and fringe claims given the weight of federal authority. It is one of a set of threads on the damage done by the president’s appointees.
February 13, 2025
The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who had spent years promoting the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism and chaired an anti-vaccine nonprofit — as Secretary of Health and Human Services, placing him atop the CDC, FDA, NIH and the nation’s public-health apparatus.
March 27, 2025
Kennedy announced a restructuring cutting about 10,000 HHS jobs, with another 10,000 lost to buyouts and early retirements — shrinking the workforce from roughly 82,000 to 62,000 and hitting the CDC, FDA and NIH. Whole offices were eliminated, including ones handling HIV/AIDS policy and sexual-violence prevention.
April 6, 2025
As a measles outbreak grew past 1,000 cases — producing the first U.S. measles deaths in a decade, including two unvaccinated children in Texas — Kennedy called the situation “not unusual,” gave only a lukewarm endorsement of the MMR vaccine, promoted unproven treatments, and falsely suggested the vaccine itself causes deaths “every year.”
April 28, 2025
Beyond formal policy, Kennedy used his platform to elevate long-debunked claims: he asserted the MMR vaccine contains “aborted fetus debris” (it does not), vowed on Dr. Phil to stop “chemtrails,” and promoted raw milk — lending federal credibility to ideas the scientific community had repeatedly rejected.
May 22, 2025
Kennedy’s “MAHA” commission released its marquee report on children’s health — and researchers quickly found it cited multiple studies that do not exist, with dozens more broken or wrong citations bearing the hallmarks of AI generation (the marker “oaicite” appeared in footnotes). The White House called them “formatting issues.”
June 9, 2025
Kennedy abruptly removed all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — the panel that recommends vaccines and shapes what insurers must cover — calling it a “clean sweep,” then named replacements including prominent vaccine skeptics. The American Medical Association said the unprecedented move undermined a process that had “saved countless lives.”
August 6, 2025
HHS announced it was winding down mRNA vaccine development under BARDA, cancelling 22 projects worth nearly $500 million — including a Moderna bird-flu vaccine — citing safety claims contradicted by the evidence. A former BARDA director called it “a huge blow to our national security.”
September 22, 2025
After promising in April to identify the cause of the “autism epidemic” by September — and floating a registry to track autistic people — Kennedy and HHS announced a claimed link between Tylenol (acetaminophen) use in pregnancy and autism, recommending a folate-based treatment. Scientists said the evidence did not support the claims.
September 25, 2025
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced a new safety review of mifepristone — used in about two-thirds of U.S. abortions — a step anti-abortion groups had pressed as a path to restricting or banning it.
October 31, 2025
Consistent with the MAHA agenda, the FDA acted to remove ingestible prescription fluoride drops and tablets for young children from the market, advising against them for kids under three — reversing decades of guidance on a public-health measure credited with preventing tooth decay.
June 24, 2026
The Department of Health and Human Services moved to cancel 53 of the 67 active Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants — awarded under the Biden administration to curb unintended pregnancies — after a review branded many of their curricula “sexually explicit,” “age-inappropriate,” and “medically inaccurate.” The roughly $72 million was redirected into new grant streams oriented toward promoting childbearing.