Trump’s health secretary says people shouldn’t take ‘medical advice from me’
President Donald Trump’s health department head in a chaotic hearing advised Americans not to take medical advice from him.
Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F Kennedy made the strange remark during a House Appropriations Committee hearing when he was asked if he would vaccinate a child if he had one today, against the measles.
‘For measles? Um, probably for measles,’ Kennedy began, before appearing to appearing to walk back on it.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine past was a major point of contention during his congressional confirmation hearings.
‘I don’t think people should be taking advice — medical advice — from me,’ Kennedy said on Wednesday.
‘I think if I answer that question directly, it will seem like I’m giving advice to other people, and I don’t want to be doing that.’
Democratic Rep Mark Pocan, who asked the question, pressed Kennedy on his response, asking hypothetically about the chickenpox vaccine.
‘Um, again, I don’t want to give advice,’ Kennedy said.
Pocan then asked, ‘Polio?’
‘Polio?’ Kennedy said. ‘Again, I don’t want to be giving advice.’
Pocan concluded: ‘OK, but that’s kind of your jurisdiction, because the CDC (Center for Disease Control) does give advice.’
The hearing centered on how the proposed budget that would cut roughly 26% of funding to the HHS compared to 2025, aligns with Trump’s priorities. The budget proposes downsizing HHS from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees and focusing on ending the US’s ‘epidemic of chronic illness’.
Kennedy was disrupted by protesters at a back-to-back Senate committee hearing on the 2026 budget.
He was in the middle of his opening statement when several protesters started chanting: ‘RFK kills people with hate!’
The protesters were escorted out of the room.
It was Kennedy’s first time back since his confirmation hearings. He was among Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks, and sought to distance himself from the anti-vaccine movement.
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