Nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine record dominates Finance Committee hearing; senators point to Samoa episode

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, faced sustained questioning Thursday about his history of public statements on vaccines and his involvement in a 2019 measles crisis in Samoa.

At the Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden, the committee’s ranking member, said staff had reviewed thousands of pages and concluded that the nominee “has embraced conspiracy theories, quacks, charlatans, especially when it comes to the safety and efficacy of vaccines.” Wyden said those statements “peddling these anti vaccine conspiracy theories … are going to endanger the lives of kids and seniors across the nation.”

The hearing included repeated references to Kennedy’s public record. Kennedy told the committee, “I am pro safety,” and said “all of my kids are vaccinated,” but also defended prior remarks, saying some public snippets were taken out of context. He told senators that when he said “there are no vaccines that are safe and…