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2d ago

RFK Jr. Faces Intensifying Backlash as Trump Sticks By Him and States Split on Vaccine Access

Bipartisan criticism intensified following a contentious Senate hearing.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. appears before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. The committee met to hear testimony on President Trump's 2026 health care agenda.
A pharmacy in the Brooklyn borough of New York advertises Covid-19 testing and vaccine does on September 4.
Demonstrators rally against the Trump administration's health care policies in front of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on May 10.
A person wears a "Make America Healthy Again" t-shirt as they attend a confirmation hearing on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services, on January 29.

Overview

  • President Trump on Sunday called Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a “different kind of a guy” while reiterating that vaccines work and urging caution about ending mandates.
  • New York issued a 30‑day order enabling COVID‑19 shots without a prescription for people over age 3 and allowing pharmacists to prescribe, as Florida moved to end school vaccine mandates.
  • Confusion over narrowed federal guidance has led pharmacies in multiple states to require prescriptions for COVID‑19 boosters, limiting access for many customers.
  • Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams urged Trump to fire Kennedy, joining calls for his ouster from more than 1,000 current and former HHS employees and from his nephew, Joe Kennedy III.
  • Senators from both parties sharply questioned Kennedy over his ouster of CDC Director Susan Monarez, senior resignations, the firing of ACIP members, and roughly $500 million in mRNA research cuts, with outlets describing parts of his testimony as misleading.