As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faces Senate confirmation votes for his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services, we have rounded up a series of essential reads by our project FactCheck.org on Kennedy’s record and remarks about relevant and consequential topics from vaccination and autism to Covid-19 and bird flu.
In his second day of confirmation hearings, on Jan. 30 before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Kennedy refused to say that vaccines do not cause autism, despite a large body of evidence showing that there is no link. Kennedy pointed to a flawed paper to suggest there is credible evidence to claim that vaccines cause autism.
When questioned about studies showing there is no link, Kennedy claimed that “there are other studies out there” suggesting a link between vaccines and autism. However, the findings on this topic are not mixed, according to FactCheck.org. The single paper Kennedy cited in the hearing – which claims to have found that vaccinated “children were significantly more likely than the unvaccinated to have been diagnosed” with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders – was not rigorous, experts told FactCheck.org. Jeffrey S. Morris, director of the division of biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, told FactCheck.org that the paper “has so many severe methodological issues, it clearly should not have passed any legitimate peer review.”
Since Kennedy announced a presidential bid in 2023, FactCheck.org’s SciCheck team has examined his record on a number of occasions, including in this three-part series in late 2023. For additional fact-checking of Kennedy’s remarks at his confirmation hearings and on other occasions, click here or use the links below for selected stories from FactCheck.org:
- RFK Jr. Cites Flawed Paper Claiming Link Between Vaccines and Autism in HHS Confirmation Hearing (Jan. 31, 2025)
- Kennedy Repeats False and Misleading Claims in Confirmation Hearing (Jan. 29, 2025)
- As Trump Taps RFK Jr. for Health Secretary, a Look Back at Kennedy’s Claims (Nov. 22, 2024)
- Trump Embraces RFK Jr.’s Views on Vaccines, Fluoride (Nov. 4, 2024)
- Bird Flu Pandemic Preparedness Activities Are Not Evidence of a Conspiracy (Aug. 22, 2024)
- RFK’s Exaggerations on Chronic Disease in Children (Aug. 2, 2024)
- Trump Repeats Falsehoods About Childhood Vaccines in Leaked Phone Call with RFK Jr. (July 18, 2024)
- ‘Who Is Bobby Kennedy?’ Video Promotes Debunked Anti-Vaccine Narratives (May 16, 2024)
- CDC, Experts Say Fluoridated Water Is Safe, Contrary to RFK Jr.’s Warnings (Feb. 20, 2024)
- RFK Jr. Incorrectly Denies Past Remarks on Vaccine Safety and Effectiveness (Nov. 8, 2023)
- RFK Jr.’s Covid-19 Deceptions (Aug. 11, 2023)
- What RFK Jr. Gets Wrong About Autism (Aug. 10, 2023)
- FactChecking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Aug. 9, 2023)
FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania. The nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism site was founded in 2003 by APPC Director Kathleen Hall Jamieson and journalist Brooks Jackson, formerly of CNN and the Wall Street Journal. Launched as a “consumer advocate for voters” that checked politicians’ claims, FactCheck.org has enlarged its mission to encompass false and misleading claims about science and health, and misleading viral claims on social media.
