Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

New Capabilities

Cancelled federal mRNA vaccine research funding in August 2025

For 80 years, flu vaccines grew in chicken eggs — a process effective against roughly 40% of infections in good years. On May 8, the New England Journal of Medicine published Moderna's Phase 3 data: mRNA-1010 reduced influenza illness by 26.6% more than a standard shot in 40,805 adults aged 50 and older. Moderna's stock rose 16% that day.

Updated May 31

Rule Changes

His promotion of leucovorin for autism was not supported by the FDA's approval

In September 2025, White House officials told parents of autistic children that a cheap, generic drug called leucovorin might improve their children's speech and behavior. Prescriptions surged 71% in the following months, pharmacies ran dry, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed emergency imports from Canada and Spain. On March 10, 2026, the FDA approved leucovorin — but only for a genetic condition so rare that fewer than 50 cases have ever been identified worldwide, not for autism.

Updated May 30

Rule Changes

Serving as HHS Secretary since February 2025

Jay Bhattacharya co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020, publicly opposing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's pandemic response policies. Five years later, he now controls both the CDC and the National Institutes of Health—the two largest federal public health agencies—making him the most powerful health official in America outside the cabinet.

Updated May 29

Rule Changes

Active

The United States declared measles eliminated in 2000, after decades of vaccination campaigns against the most contagious virus known to infect humans. On January 22, 2026, that status entered jeopardy when the country passed one year and two days of continuous transmission, starting in West Texas.

Updated May 22

Rule Changes

Leading HHS; overseeing health agency restructuring

The U.S. joined the WHO on June 14, 1948, three years after helping design the agency, and became the first to withdraw on January 22, 2026, ending 77 years of involvement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited the WHO's 'failures during the COVID-19 pandemic' and its inability to demonstrate independence from 'inappropriate political influence.' The U.S. left without paying between $130 million and $278 million in disputed dues.

Updated May 22

Rule Changes

Leading federal effort to restrict pediatric gender care

Lurie Children's Hospital, which opened the Midwest's first pediatric gender identity clinic in 2013, announced it will no longer prescribe gender-affirming medications to new patients under 18. This came days after HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart referred the hospital for federal investigation.

Updated May 22

Rule Changes

Under pressure after grant termination reversal; AHA implementation stalled without Congressional support

SAMHSA distributed $7.5 billion annually to fight addiction and mental illness. In one year, the Trump administration cut its workforce by more than half, terminated roughly $2 billion in grants in March 2025, and folded the 33-year-old agency into a new structure.

Updated May 21

Rule Changes

Controls key levers over preventive-coverage recommendations after the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling.

People think "preventive care is free" is a fixed promise. It isn't. It's a living list that gets edited through a notice-and-comment process—then quietly becomes binding later when plan years roll over.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Charged with expanding research methods and models tied to medical cannabis and hemp-derived cannabinoids

Trump's executive order instructing DOJ to fast-track marijuana's move to Schedule III immediately triggered a familiar split. Public health and industry groups cheered the potential research and tax impacts, while House Republicans organized opposition, urging Trump to keep marijuana in Schedule I.

Updated May 15

Built World

Public-facing operational lead explaining why PSPS restorations lag wind events: inspections and repairs must be completed before re-energizing lines.

Xcel Energy's deliberate blackout on Colorado's Front Range didn't end neatly when the wind eased. By the time crews could start patrols, the first PSPS was entangled with widespread storm damage. Xcel said total weather-related outages reached about 120,000—far beyond the roughly 50,000 customers initially targeted for de-energization.

Updated May 15

Force in Play

Overseeing federal measles response while under fire for past anti-vaccine activism

Measles, the virus the U.S. declared vanquished in 2000, is back with a vengeance. In 2025 it has infected nearly 2,000 Americans, with runaway outbreaks now in South Carolina's Upstate and the Arizona–Utah border towns, forcing hundreds of mostly unvaccinated students and families into quarantine.

Updated May 11

Rule Changes

ACIP overhaul leads to adopted hepatitis B policy change now under GAO review

In December 2025, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 8–3 to end the universal recommendation for hepatitis B vaccination within 24 hours of birth. The committee was reconstituted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On December 16, 2025, Acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill formally adopted the recommendation.

Updated May 10

Rule Changes

Architect of MAHA agenda and vaccine schedule review

In his second term, President Donald Trump is overhauling U.S. childhood vaccination policy. He argues the country gives too many shots compared with its peers. On December 5, 2025, a federal vaccine advisory panel voted 8–3 to end the longstanding hepatitis B shot recommendation for newborns. Trump signed a memorandum ordering the HHS secretary and CDC director to review the childhood schedule and align it where possible with peer countries' practices.

Updated May 10

Rule Changes

Architect of ACIP overhaul and broader vaccine-policy shift

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 8–3 on December 5, 2025 to end the recommendation that every U.S. newborn receive a hepatitis B shot within 24 hours of birth. The committee had been recently overhauled under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; acting CDC Director Jim O'Neill ratified the change on December 16, 2025.

Updated May 9