Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment last month to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) immediately sent waves of speculation swirling throughout the biopharma industry. While some experts expect only minor changes from the next Trump administration with relation to biopharma, take it from a former Donald Trump appointee himself: RFK Jr. can and will shake up vaccine policy in the U.S.
Scott Gottlieb, M.D., an industry-favored former FDA commissioner who spent two years in the role during Trump’s first term, recently said RFK Jr.'s stated intentions on vaccines—if followed—will "cost lives in this country."
"I think if RFK follows through on his intentions, and I believe he will, and I believe he can, it will cost lives in this country," Gottlieb said during a Friday segment on CNBC’s Squawk Box. "You're going to see measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates go down. And like I said, if we lose another 5%, which could happen in the next year or two, we will see large measles outbreaks. For everyone 1,000 cases of measles that occur in children, there will be one death."
RFK Jr. has made it a goal to “make America healthy again,” and, while he hasn’t laid out his precise plans for vaccines at HHS, his history of skepticism spans decades. Several vaccine makers watched their share prices plunge in the wake of his appointment.
“I'm not so sure that people really understand how Kennedy's intention is going to translate into policy and how serious he is,” Gottlieb said.
Combined with Trump’s pick for the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the former Republican congressman Dave Weldon, M.D., who Gottlieb calls a “very committed anti-vaxxer,” the former FDA commissioner believes RFK Jr. could have a real and immediate impact on U.S. vaccine policy.
Still, according to Gottlieb, RFK Jr. faces skepticism among some Republicans related to his positions on several topics. President-elect Donald Trump, meanwhile, may not share the same view on vaccines, Gottlieb said, citing his own prior conversations with the president.
For his part, RFK Jr. last month sought to assuage concerns over his vaccine beliefs by stating in an interview, "we're not going to take vaccines away from anybody."
Outside of the HHS, Trump has also selected television personality Mehmet Oz, M.D., also known as Dr. Oz, to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and has named Johns Hopkins surgeon and author Martin Makary, M.D., as his choice for FDA commissioner. Gottlieb gave his own stamp of approval to both of the appointments, noting his “confidence” in Makary at the FDA and the potential “transformative” role Oz could play at CMS, he said on Squawk Box.
Gottlieb joined the board of Pfizer after resigning from the FDA commissioner post in 2019.