Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. However, one of the outstanding moments during the hearing was when Kennedy advised members of Congress to oppose only the Secretary of Health’s actions because he was purchased and paid for by big pharma companies.
Kennedy was named after an anti-vaccine extremist and cleared the CDC, NIH and FDA who believed in the vaccine, including the entire CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP). Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey, asked Kennedy on Tuesday why he avoided any public opinion on his sharp decision on the vaccine, and the health secretary said there was a committee that had overseen the matter to defend his actions. Pallone noted that Kennedy fired the committee.
PALLONE: Are you just afraid to receive public comments about the recommendations about the vaccine? No public procedures
RFK JR: We have a public procedure for regulating vaccines. This is the ACIP committee.
Pallone: You fired the committee!
[image or embed]— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 24, 2025 at 8:12 AM
But it is after Pallone officially expires that the real drama of the hearing will begin. The committee chair moved to a friendlier congressman from Rep. Neal Dunn, a Republican from Florida. When Kennedy starts answering Dunn’s softball questions, he will quickly continue to solve Pallone, an unusual move that rules usually don’t allow.
Kennedy said Pallone was a former advocate of people who were hurt by vaccines and changed his tune only after getting funding from the pharmaceutical industry.
“If I could take a minute to respond to what Congressman Pallone said, I will speak to you, Congressman Pallone,” Kennedy said. “Fifteen years ago, I met me; you were the champion, for the people who were injured in the vaccine.
Kennedy then moved to the money part and the fireworks began.
“Since then, you’ve received $2 million in donations from pharmaceutical companies, more than any other member of this committee,” Kennedy said. “And your enthusiasm for supporting the old ACIP committee, which is totally overflowing, and the prevalence of drug conflict, seems to be the result of these contributions.”
One of Pallone’s MPs objected, because Pallone obviously didn’t hear any opinions about him. Once explained to the president that he was destroying the reputation of a member of Congress, Kennedy was asked to withdraw his statement. Kennedy just giggled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ren6plyjuf8
There were many other moments at the hearing, as Kennedy often insisted that he wasn’t actually cutting the show he did cut. At other times, Kennedy defended the cut with extremely bad logic. For example, Louisiana Rep. Troy Carter asked Kennedy why he was cutting funding for HIV vaccine research. The secretary made bile insist that it was because of the HIV vaccine that had been promised for decades, but had no results.
Carter: How do you justify the decision to terminate HIV vaccine research?
RFK JR: We have been committing to an HIV vaccine since 1984, and Congress invests in it every year
Carter: Because they didn’t come up with one, did you cut the forward movement by getting rid of the NIH dollar?
[image or embed]— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 24, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Do you think this logic will fly for other diseases (such as cancer)? We haven’t cured cancer yet, so naturally, should you give up on finding new treatments?
Members often point out that many of the cuts are targeting plans approved by Congress and that he has no right to unilaterally decide to cut things he doesn’t like. But that’s what he did, just as Elon Musk often served as head of the so-called Doge.
Rep. Nanette Barragan, a Democrat from California, grilled Alzheimer’s study on Kennedy’s layoffs. Kennedy insists he doesn’t know any cuts and repeatedly says he doesn’t know what Baragan says is true. Kennedy claimed ignorance of things that should have been known throughout the hearing.
The role of the Minister of Health is very unqualified and wrote in a recent book that he doesn’t even believe in bacterial theory, one of the most basic things anyone needs to accept in order to understand modern medicine. Instead, Kennedy believed in Miasma or bad air, the most popular theory of the 19th century.
Kennedy also made some crazy comments on the plan every American wearable device to track glucose. Trump’s choice of surgeons who have not yet been confirmed by the Senate, which owns a wearable company that appears to be in line with Kennedy’s “vision” to conduct health tracking. According to reports, Casey’s means were nominated in Kennedy’s suggestion, and after raising questions about the president’s first post, Janette Nesheiwat and her qualifications raised questions. Mean is a 37-year-old holistic medical doctor who co-owned a company called Levels, which sells products used to monitor glucose levels. Consumers pay at least $200 for a one-year subscription.
Those who are not diabetes do not need to constantly monitor their glucose levels, but are convinced that this is one of the keys to health. Kennedy apparently shared this view because glucose was the first thing he mentioned in his testimony on Tuesday, which is something that needs to be monitored.
Kennedy’s appeal to every American wear a health tracker is quite interesting because the right-wing conspiracy theories about how the government wants to track you and poison your health. This is very common when the Covid-19-19 vaccine is released to hear people insisting that they include microchips placed by Bill Gates to connect everyone to 5G wireless signals. Needless to say, these cookies are now some of the biggest defenders in the Kennedy “Maha Sports.”
Rep. Baudson asked Kennedy about privacy and wearable devices. But the Health Minister did not acknowledge the privacy aspect, but talked about how he personally “changed life from wearing a glucose meter” friend.
“They lose weight, lose diabetes, and you’ll have that happen again and again,” Kennedy said. “It really has a miraculous impact on the health of our country. $80 a month, we’re exploring ways to make sure that you can pay for those.”
It is not clear how Kennedy pays these costs to mean, but for any company that makes glucose monitors, it is clearly a huge surprise if suddenly being paid back by Medicare for someone who doesn’t actually need to monitor its glucose.
“Ozempic costs $1,300 a month. If you can achieve the same thing with a $80 wearable device, it’s much better for the American people,” Kennedy said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzgmjmurzto
Kennedy’s first major report in May cites research that simply does not exist. He is a product that people don’t need, and it sounds like he intends to launch a huge advertising campaign next week for products his Maha admirers may make money from. And there seems to be no protection that can prevent any of them. Members of Congress can ask all the tricky questions they like. However, as long as Trump is in power, the Mahathir movement will move forward at full speed.
