Updated at 6:58 pm ET on April 16, 2026
The White House has reportedly asked Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. avoid talking about vaccines, but this morning he had no choice. When he appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee—the first of seven congressional testimony he is scheduled to give in the coming days as part of the 2027 budget process—members pressed him on the issue, which he has written about and talked about nonstop for nearly two decades.
He often avoided those questions, refusing to repeat claims he had previously made about a supposed link between vaccines and autism (no such links were found), or about how being exposed to measles can boost a person’s immune system (the opposite is true). Asked if an unvaccinated girl who died of measles in Texas last year could have been saved by the shot, the health secretary replied: “It’s possible, of course.”
Kennedy recently appears to be keeping public information about vaccines because the White House fears that his anti-vaccine agenda will appeal to Republicans in the midterms. Instead, he has hailed the government’s new food pyramid that has been reversed and the return of whole milk to school cafeterias. The first episode of his new podcast, released this week, features celebrity chef Robert Irvine—the man who “makes my dream come true,” Kennedy says, by fixing military meals—who sits with Kennedy in front of a shelf displaying several Kennedy conspiracy theory books and a photo of his father. (Irvine has a history of to decorate his resumewhich he calls “errors in my judgment.” A spokesperson for Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment on the department’s latest actions.)
This more restrained version of Kennedy appears as the Trump administration moves to end the chaos at HHS. Two months ago, Chris Klomp, the head of Medicare, became the department’s chief adviser, reportedly keeping Kennedy in line. And today, after months of chaos and confusion, President Trump appointed a new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Erica Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general of the United States and a retired rear adjutant in the United States Public Health Service.
If Schwartz’s nomination is confirmed by Congress, he would step in as the head of an agency that, over the past year, has dealt with several resignations and signaled morale. The CDC has only had a confirmed director for 29 days since Kennedy took office. Right now—at least officially—it doesn’t have a director at all. The Trump administration missed a deadline last month to appoint a new one, which means that the former acting director, Jay Bhattacharya, can no longer claim the title, although he appears to be staying on. Bhattacharya, whose other job is director of the National Institutes of Health, has appeared determined to win over employees at the failed agency, telling them all staff meeting last month that they needed to “focus on what we know how to do” instead of getting involved in politics. This month, though, Bhattacharya, who is known for his contrarian views on the public health response to the coronavirus pandemic, reportedly delayed the publication of a CDC study showing that the COVID vaccine reduced the likelihood of hospitalization. (A HHS spokesperson said New York Times (that Bhattacharya “wants to ensure that the paper uses the most appropriate methodology.”)
Schwartz’s appointment may signal a step toward stability. He has a long record of public health, including serving in the first Trump administration during the coronavirus pandemic. He has a medical degree from Brown University and a law degree from the University of Maryland. (Bhattacharya’s previous acting director, Jim O’Neill, has no medical background and was viewed internally as a Kennedy loyalist.) Several current and former CDC employees I spoke with welcomed news of his possible selection.
A number of other key CDC roles that have been vacant for months will also soon be filled by qualified officials. Jennifer Shuford, an infectious disease specialist and Texas health commissioner, who emphasized the importance of measles vaccination during the state’s outbreak last year, will become the agency’s deputy director and chief medical officer. Sara Brenner, a physician who currently serves as deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, will be Kennedy’s chief adviser.
Such an appointment does not guarantee that the agency will return to normal. The CDC’s permanent director, a longtime government scientist named Susan Monarez, has testified that she lost her job because she refused to stamp out Kennedy’s agenda or fire certain public health experts. (Kennedy has said he was fired because he denied being credible.) If Schwartz becomes the next director, he, like Monarez, may find himself standing between agency staff and Kennedy, who has repeatedly called the CDC corrupt. Daniel Jernigan, former director of the National Center for Infectious and Zoonotic Diseases who he resigned in protest on Monarez’s firing last year, he told me he believes that, for the next director—whoever he will be—acknowledging Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views “may be an important job skill.”
If Kennedy considered his comments today, the steps he has already taken on vaccines as HHS secretary are still bearing fruit. Last summer, he installed the agency’s vaccine advisory board and partners; this spring, the judge temporarily blocked the board made changes to the childhood vaccination schedule and declared many of its members illegal. But last week, seemingly in response, Kennedy signed a change to the board’s charter, which now states that, among its duties, the board will work to identify “gaps in vaccine safety research including adverse reactions after vaccination.” It’s hard not to read it as a number to continue to doubt the vaccine.
When Trump made Kennedy’s health secretary, he promised to leave him “embarrassed.” Lately, Kennedy seems tamed. But that doesn’t mean he’s abandoned his anti-vaccine agenda, or that he won’t push it behind the scenes.
This article has been updated to reflect the new roles of Shuford and Brenner
