The right-leaning Wall Street Journal has attacked Donald Trump’s prospective health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr as “dangerous to public health.”
In a stinging op-ed published late Sunday, the paper’s historically conservative editorial board described Kennedy as a “slippery” character with a “career of spreading falsehoods” and a strong financial interest in anti-vaccine lawsuits.
Once in office, the board warned, Kennedy could unleash a wave of legal action against pharmaceutical companies that would force them to cancel the development of new vaccines to the detriment of public safety.
The op-ed comes ahead of Kennedy’s confirmation hearing in the Senate Wednesday, when he is expected to face tough questions about his plans for the country.
“President Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary in return for his presidential endorsement. But Senate Republicans have an obligation to scrutinize his giant closet of business conflicts and dubious ideas,” the editorial board warned.
“The risk is high that Mr. Kennedy will use his power and pulpit at HHS to enrich his trial-lawyer friends at the expense of public health and medical innovation,” it added.
In recent weeks, Kennedy has reportedly suddenly been telling Republican senators that he’s “all for” polio vaccines and that he does not intend to “take away” anybody’s jabs.
However, the Journal’s op-ed focuses on R.F.K. Jr.’s past financial ties to Wisner Baum and Morgan & Morgan PA, two law firms that specialize in claims against vaccine makers demanding big damage amounts.
Kennedy’s most recent financial disclosures reportedly show that he has earned more than $2.4 million from referring clients to Wisner Baum in the last few years. He said that he planned to maintain his financial interest in the court action even if allowed to take office, but would end a similar agreement with Morgan & Morgan.
The Journal‘s editorial board goes on to describe how Congress set up the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program back in 1986 to protect vaccine makers from an “avalanche of litigation” that was “driving manufacturers from the market.”
The board then argues that Kennedy could “take action to assist his trial-lawyer pals,” such as widening the scope of injuries that are eligible for compensation despite a lack of robust causative evidence.
Routine childhood vaccines — which have for decades staved off measles, chickenpox, polio and other illnesses — have prevented roughly 508 million illnesses and more than 1.1 million deaths among children born within the past 30 years, according to a report last August by the Centers for Disease Control.
While vaccines do sometimes come with harmful side effects, these are usually very rare, and most doctors and scientists believe they are strongly outweighed by the benefit of being vaccinated.