Before the Senate's confirmation vote on President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), some lawmakers are making one more play to highlight their concerns stemming from the nominee’s ties to ongoing vaccine lawsuits.
In a Sunday letter (PDF) to HHS secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Senate Finance Committee members Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, outlined their “grave concerns" about his "fitness" for the post. Aside from RFK Jr.'s history of antivaccine rhetoric, the senators highlighted the nominee’s financial interest in litigation surrounding Merck’s HPV vaccine Gardasil.
In an ethics agreement, RFK Jr. previously disclosed that he is entitled to a 10% payout for referring cases to the law firm Wisner Baum, which represents clients who claim Gardasil can cause cervical cancer.
If confirmed, the nominee pledged to resign as a consultant in the matter. But he said he would continue to collect referral fees for cases the firm wins, provided they don’t involve the U.S. government.
Meanwhile, Warren and Wyden’s concerns have “only grown” with further revelations, the lawmakers wrote in the letter. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, both senators pressed the nominee specifically on the topic. In response, RFK Jr. declined to commit to recusing himself from decisions and communications related to Gardasil.
“By using your authority and bully pulpit as Secretary to sway the outcome of the litigation and secure a big judgment or settlement, you would increase the chances of a large payout for yourself,” the senators wrote in the letter.
Over the weekend, RFK Jr. submitted an ethics agreement amendment disclosing that he is divesting his interest in cases referred to Wisner Baum to a “non-dependent adult family member,” which he then confirmed to be his adult son in written responses to finance committee questions.
That arrangement won't cut it for Wyden and Warren, who noted that it would “appear to allow an immediate family member to benefit financially from your position as Secretary." This, in turn, could enable his vaccine-related decisions to result in “significant compensation” for his family, the lawmakers wrote.
In the letter, the senators requested a written commitment from RFK Jr. that he'll recuse himself from “all vaccine-related” communications and decisions, a promise the nominee is unlikely to make, among other ethics-related requests.
At last week’s confirmation hearings, RFK Jr. was asked to answer to several controversial statements he’s made in the past, such as that vaccines cause autism.
Citi analysts predict that RFK Jr. will ultimately be confirmed as his efforts to distance himself from his “prior anti-vax comments,” and instead affirm the importance of vaccines, “likely sufficiently assuaged” some lawmakers' concerns, the analysts wrote in a note last week.