Senate finance committee RFK Jr
The Senate Finance Committee voted to advance RFK Jr’s HHS nomination to the full Senate.

WASHINGTON – The 27-member Senate Finance Committee voted to send Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Health and Human Services (HHS) nomination to the full Senate floor. 

The 14-13 approval came along party lines, despite RFK Jr’s often heated exchanges with Republican and Democratic Senators during two confirmation hearings last week. Kennedy weathered accusations of profiting from lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers, refusing  to deny that vaccines cause autism, and recanting his pro-abortion stance. 

Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) voted to advance the nominee, even though the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) chairman expressed grave concerns over Kennedy’s anti-vaccine statements. 

Kennedy could not afford to lose Cassidy’s vote, and the two met over the weekend for “intense conversations,” Cassidy said in a statement after the vote. Cassidy, a medical doctor, appeared conflicted in last week’s hearing after he asked Kennedy to “convince” him that “you will become the public health advocate, but not just churn old information so that there’s never a conclusion” – a question Kennedy sidestepped. 

“With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes,” Cassidy said.

The Senator, who is from a state where President Trump won by 22 points, could lose his party’s nomination in the next election if he continues to have a “strained relationship” with the President’s backers, reports Politico. 

Finance chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) urged his committee members to vote in favor of the nomination, saying Kennedy “has spent his career fighting to end America’s chronic illness epidemic and has been a leading advocate for health care transparency, both for patients and for taxpayers.” Indeed, Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, gained a large national following for his campaign to “Make America Healthy Again.”

Kennedy committee vote
Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, urged his colleagues to confirm Kennedy, speaking highly of his career to “end the chronic disease epidemic.”

However, the Committee’s Democratic members remained unconvinced. Ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) stated “last week, Mr Kennedy was given ample opportunity on a bipartisan basis to recant his decades-long career peddling anti-vaccine conspiracies.

“Instead, he dodged and weaved, and gave no indication that if confirmed as HHS Secretary, he would stand by the long-settled science surrounding routine vaccinations…Peddling these conspiracy theories as the nation’s chief healthcare officer will be deadly for kids across the country.”

“He’s not qualified, and I daresay everyone here knows it,” said Senator Ralph Warnock (D-Georgia) in a short statement before the vote. “Mr Kennedy appears more obsessed in chasing conspiracy theories than in chasing solutions to lower healthcare costs for working families in Georgia.”

Senate committee vote for RFK Jr (Kennedy) Ralph Warnock
Senator Ralph Warnock (D-Georgia), represents a state with nearly 15,000 CDC employees. Robert F Kennedy Jr would oversee the CDC, along with 12 other HHS agencies or divisions.

Now that RFK Jr has cleared the Finance Committee with a “favorable” recommendation, the entire Senate will vote whether to confirm him. His nomination is one of several of President Trump’s high-profile picks, and Kennedy could only afford to lose three Republican votes if Democrats unite against the nominee. 

The three Republican senators who voted against Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, could potentially vote against Kennedy as well, according to the Hill. But Kennedy appears to have cleared the major hurdle in convincing the Finance Committee members that he is “pro-safety” and pro-life. No date has been set yet for the vote.

Hans Kluge re-elected as Regional Director of the WHO European Region.

WHO’s Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu has been appointed as Acting Regional Director of the African Regional Office, until a new regional director is nominated and confirmed by the Executive Board – moves all due to happen in May and early June. 

Meanwhile, the EB also confirmed the appointment of Hans Henri Kluge to a second five-year term as the Regional Director of the European Region. 

WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Ihekweazu’s appointment Tuesday at the WHO Executive Board meeting going on this week in Geneva.  

The African Regional Committee of WHO African region member states is set to meet in Geneva on 18 May, just ahead of the World Health Assembly to nominate a new candidate, following the sudden death of the RD-elect. 

The appointment will then be approved, exceptionally, at the WHO EB 157 session, to be held just after the conclusoin of the May WHA, in what WHO’s legal counsel Derek Walton, described as an ‘expedited process’  – which was confirmed by  the EB on Tuesday. 

The moves follow the sudden death of RD-elect Dr Faustine Ndugulile in November 2024. He was due to assume the RD post this month once his election had been confirmed by the WHO Executive Board.

An expedited election process is currently underway to allow candidates for the African RD to campaign for the position, according to a resolution passed by the African Regional Committee in late January.

Candidates are supposed to be nominated by member states by 28 February.  An online candidates forum is then planned for 2 April.   

Chikwe, who joined WHO in 2021, is currently the Assistant Director General and Deputy Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Program in Geneva.

Kluge entered his first term as European Regional Director just ahead of the COVID pandemic, and then had to grapple with the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the mpox health emergency.  At the EB meeting, member states gave Kluge highly positive reviews or steering the diverse 53 member European region with a strong hand amidst geopolitical crises, as well as deep social rifts that also defy public health aims – such as  the marginalization of LGBTQI groups in terms of access to HIV/AIDS and other treatments. 

Elon Musk, named a “special government employee” by the Trump administration, secured the president’s backing to eliminate USAID, the country’s foreign aid agency, sending shockwaves throughout the global humanitarian world.

The richest man in the world and the President of the United States sent a message over the weekend to USAID, the world’s largest provider of humanitarian assistance depended on for survival by millions of the world’s poorest people: “Time to die.”

Two weeks into Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office, the Washington headquarters of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) shuttered its doors on Monday, making it the latest, most visible casualty in the new administration’s sweeping dismantling of America’s foreign aid apparatus. 

Hours later, USAID employees couldn’t tell if their agency still existed. Its website went dark, social media accounts vanished, and staff found themselves locked out of email servers. Overnight, photos documenting decades of aid work and agency logos vanished from the Washington office’s walls.

Protesters gathered outside USAID headquarters in Washington after employees were told by email to stay home Monday.

The unravelling of the agency, which employs over 10,000 people who assist tens of millions worldwide every year, began last week with sweeping personnel cuts: half its global health staff dismissed, 60% of its humanitarian assistance bureau eliminated, and 500 employees terminated, including at least 56 senior officials. 

By Saturday night, two top security officials were placed on administrative leave for refusing to grant billionaire Elon Musk’s personnel access to classified agency systems.

The assault further escalated as Musk announced he had secured the president’s support to abolish USAID entirely after over six decades of operation.

“I went over it with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down,” Musk said. “USAID is a criminal organization. It’s time for it to die.”

Speaking to reporters in front of Air Force One on Sunday night, Trump tore into the agency and confirmed Musk had his support.

“It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics,” Trump said. “And we’re going to get them out.”

USAID’s $42.8 billion budget represents just 2.14% of America’s annual domestic healthcare spending of $2 trillion.

Agency under attack 

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leading the attack on USAID has no official status, as Congress would need to approve establishing such an agency. Musk is neither a federal employee nor a government official. The question of who, if anyone, DOGE is accountable to, remains unresolved.

“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk said, noting he had foregone “some great parties” to focus on dismantling the aid agency that tens of millions in over 150 countries rely upon for health care, education, emergency assistance and economic development. 

Amid a barrage of over 200 tweets in 24 hours, the DOGE chief described the agency as “a viper’s nest full of radical left Marxists who hate America,” “evil,” and “beyond repair.” The volume aligns with Musk’s typical social media presence – a Financial Times analysis found he averaged 168 tweets daily over a recent week, totalling more than 1,180 posts.

In one exchange, Musk responded with a bullseye icon to far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos’s statement: “By closing USAID, Trump and Musk have toppled the most gigantic global terror organization in history.”

Veterans of the agency quickly fired back at the accusations. 

“I oversaw global health programs at USAID. They reached hundreds of millions of people, added six extra years to the lifespan of children in partner countries, and were eradicating health threats worldwide,” said Atul Gawande, former global health lead at USAID. “What insanity and cruelty to break that.”

‘Another assault on the constitution’

A letter from ranking Senate Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee noted they “had not been notified of any such visit by DOGE or other agency officials.”

Democrats defending the agency argue Trump has no authority to unilaterally dismantle USAID, which Congress created under John F. Kennedy in 1961.

“Trump isn’t satisfied just to close programs and fire staff. He is now planning to ELIMINATE THE ENTIRE AGENCY,” said Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy. “That would be illegal. He cannot unilaterally close a federal agency. Another assault on the Constitution.”

Yet since retaking office, Trump’s administration has repeatedly exceeded executive authority with little resistance from the Republican-controlled House and Senate, including overturning a congressional ban on TikTok. His iron grip on the party has so far prevented any meaningful pushback.

The involvement of Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency in the weekend raid on USAID headquarters triggered additional alarms. Senate Democrats sent an urgent letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding explanations for the agency headquarters’ closure and potential unauthorized access to classified information by DOGE appointees. 

“It is unclear whether those who accessed secure classified facilities had proper clearance or what they were seeking to access,” the ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote. “We understand that security guards present at the facility were threatened when they raised questions.”

The letter expressed “deep concern” that officials from DOGE may have compromised national security in their rush to dismantle the agency.

“Staff tell me, “It is frightening being inside USAID right now,”” Gawande said. “Our checks and balances failed,” current staffers told him. “Congress has abdicated its responsibilities.” 

USAID goes dark 

USAID’s website was taken offline without warning over the weekend. The Internet Archive retains backups of the majority of pages deleted from the official site.

The shredding of USAID led by Musk halted long-running programs protecting millions from AIDS, infectious diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, pregnancy and childbirth complications. Aid providing electricity to Ukrainian refugees, medical care for displaced Palestinians and Yemenis, mpox surveillance, and HIV medications are also among the long list of casualties. 

Thousands enrolled in clinical trials backed by USAID now find themselves stranded, the New York Times reported, unable to continue experimental treatments as researchers and medicines are withdrawn. The world’s largest anti-malaria donor, the President’s Malaria Initiative established under former President George W. Bush funded by USAID, has terminated two-thirds of its workforce.

Though Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to exempt “lifesaving humanitarian assistance” from the funding freeze at USAID last week, aid workers remain paralyzed by confusion. 

Staff on the ground cannot resume work without explicit USAID approval. But with mass layoffs at the agency, including hundreds of staff who handle communications with aid recipients, there is no one left to process these lifesaving waiver requests that would allow partners to resume operations. 

Speaking from El Salvador, Rubio defended the organizational changes at USAID, accusing its officials of acting like “a global charity separate from the national interest” and failing to cooperate with Trump administration inquiries. He insisted the agency’s core programs would continue under State Department oversight, though he did not name who would lead them.

“The sudden freeze on US-funded aid programs will put millions of lives at risk, including some of the most vulnerable people on the planet,” Suerie Moon, a global health expert at the Geneva Graduate Institute told Health Policy Watch. “It is sickening to watch the world’s richest man toying so carelessly with the lives of infants, children, the sick, victims of natural disasters and war.” 

“Aid programs are not rockets to be tinkered with,” Moon added. “There are millions of lives and livelihoods at stake.” 

Third of global health aid at risk of vanishing 

USAID financial flows by sector, country and region for 2022.

USAID is the backbone of global health assistance. For two decades, the US has been the largest contributor to global health programs, providing $11.4 billion in health aid in 2022 — nearly a third of the $33.9 billion spent globally. The agency’s programs have saved tens of millions of lives through work targeting maternal and newborn health, malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.

Thousands of aid organizations now face an impossible choice: defy the order and continue working, or halt care and watch patients die. In famine-stricken Sudan, staff at US-funded medical facilities told ProPublica that complying with Trump’s order would mean the death of 100 babies and toddlers in their care overnight. They chose to continue working, knowing their supplies would last only days.

Their dilemma is replicated across the globe. Medical facilities, nutrition programs, and disease prevention initiatives must each decide whether to risk operating without guaranteed funding or shut down immediately. Health workers and organizations staying open to help patients have only one question left: not if, but when their last medical supplies will run out.

“Cutting that support overnight is sowing chaos in dozens of countries,” Moon said.

Low-income countries on average depend on foreign aid for one-third of their national health spending. Facing their highest debt burdens in decades, many of the world’s poorest nations are unlikely to be able to compensate for the budget hole blown open by USAID’s withdrawal.

During his first term, Trump’s “America First” budget proposed a 28% reduction to State Department and USAID funding. An impact assessment by PATH at the time estimated that just a 33% cut to maternal health services would result in 20.5 million women and children losing access to essential care, leading to approximately 2 million deaths over two years.

The total closure of USAID would prove deadlier than the projections issued by PATH in 2019. 

“The immediate consequences of this are cataclysmic. Malnourished babies who depend on US aid will die,” Murphy said. “Diseases that threaten the US will go unabated and reach our shores faster.”

How much does America pay? 

The US ranks 25th in aid delivery by percentage of national GDP.

The US leads global aid spending, providing  42% of worldwide humanitarian assistance tracked by the United Nations in 2024. But these figures reflect its economic dominance more than exceptional generosity.

Measured against economic capacity data, US aid flows tell a different story. The US economy exceeds China’s, its nearest rival, by over $10 trillion – two-thirds of China’s economy – and is five times larger than third-ranked Japan’s. Yet America ranks 25th in development assistance as a percentage of gross national income, contributing 0.24% in 2023. 

This falls well short of the 0.7% target United Nations member states agreed to in 1970. Only five European countries meet this benchmark, while OECD countries countries average 0.37% – triple the US contribution.

“Of all the targets of the administration’s ire, why USAID?” Professor Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University, asked on social media. “It gives vital assistance to people in poverty, suffering in a disaster, or in dire health conditions. All for under 1% of the federal budget.”

A legacy of lives saved, a gift to America’s rivals  

President John F. Kennedy speaks to USAID officials a year after the agency’s launch, Washington D.C., 1962.

In 2023 alone, USAID provided essential healthcare to 92 million women and children. Over the past decade, its programs saved more than 7.4 million lives, helping slash global child mortality by more than half and reducing maternal deaths by a third.

The agency’s flagship program PEPFAR has saved an estimated 26 million lives through HIV treatment and prevention. Its collapse would have immediate, devastating consequences: in just three months, nearly 136,000 babies – about 1,500 each day – would be born with HIV as pregnant women lose access to transmission-prevention medication.

As USAID’s operations grind to a halt, America’s geopolitical rivals are celebrating. Russian state media quickly declared “USAID is dead,” while former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev publicly endorsed Musk’s dismantling of the agency. 

“Smart move by Elon Musk,” Medvedev said. “Let’s hope the notorious deep state doesn’t swallow him whole.” 

The vacuum created by USAID’s collapse threatens to reshape global influence. Policymakers across party lines warn that USAID’s dissolution could create a vacuum for geopolitical adversaries, particularly in Africa. 

“China – where Musk makes his money – wants USAID destroyed. So does Russia,” said Murphy. “As developing countries will now only be able to rely on China for help, they will cut more deals with Beijing to give them control of ports, critical mineral deposits. US power will shrink.”

USAID’s work extends far beyond humanitarian aid, including supporting allies against Chinese economic coercion in Asia, combating fentanyl trafficking, and providing military assistance to key allies like Taiwan, South Korea, and Ukraine. All this was achieved for just one cent of every American tax dollar.

“Having an unelected billionaire, with his own foreign debts and motives, raiding US classified information is a grave threat to national security,” warned Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “The people elected Donald Trump to be President – not Elon Musk.” 

Image Credits: White House , Reuters Youtube, ONE Data , USAID Archive.

   

WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addresses the opening of the WHO Executive Board’s 156 session, on Monday.

World Health Organization (WHO) member states expressed unanimous public support for the body at its executive board (EB) meeting on Monday (3 February) following the United States’ decision to quit. But several countries also urged diplomatic efforts to woo the US back.

US ally Israel noted that while the loss of US membership fees is a “huge problem”, the bigger problem is that “international bodies, companies, industry and academia” may “lose interest in this organisation”.

“We must find the route to have a productive discussion with our American colleagues and see if there is a path to revise their decision and how to go and take the next steps,” said Israel’s Dr Asher Salmon.

Senegal’s Health Minister, Dr. Ibrahima Sy, proposed “mobilising health diplomacy around the world to urge the US to change its decision”, urging the executive board to engage the US government, Congress and Senate to encourage that country to remain within the WHO.

The US, which remains a WHO member for the next year as it serves out its notice, was represented at the EB by officials Michael Lim and Steve Smith, who did not speak.

There was no sign of Tressa Rae Finerty, the new Chargé d’Affaires for the US mission in Geneva although her name was on a published WHO roster of EB participants.

Biggest donors pledge support

Aside from the US, the WHO’s biggest donors are (in order): The European Commission, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Canada then France, when both assessed and voluntary contributions are added up.  All reiterated their support for WHO.

WHO’s top 25 donors for 2024/25

Poland, speaking for the European Union (EU), reaffirmed its “strong commitment to WHO in these challenging times”, noting that “a common agenda is increasingly important in the face of growing health challenges and constrained financing”. 

However, it warned that the US withdrawal could impact on the organisation’s “predictable financing”, and called for “the cost implications of new actions must be assessed to ensure continuity of essential programmes”. 

Germany “emphasised our unwavering commitment to WHO as the cornerstone of global health governance and an indispensable pillar of multilateralism”. 

“As an advocate of multilateralism, we will continue to support the WHO financially, politically and technically. We call on all member states to join us in providing robust and sustainable financial support so that WHO is able to truly fulfil its mandate.” said Alicia Longthorne, a senior policy officer in Germany’s Ministry of Health. She urged the WHO to “prioritise the continuity of essential programmes”.

Germany’s Alicia Longthorne addresses the EB

The UK is “committed to supporting the organisation to deliver for today’s health challenges, and that is why we pledged £310 million in fully flexible funds at the WHO’s investment round in November …to support the delivery of WHO’s transformation efforts”.

China, which could massively increase its paltry voluntary contributions to the WHO, confirmed its support for the WHO and multilateralism – but warned of the growing health access gap between developed and developing countries and called on WHO to improve its efficiency.

China’s Mingzhu Li confirms his country’s support for multilateralism at the EB

“Japan remains safe, steadfast in dedication to working closely with the WHO and member states,” it stated.

“The world needs an effective, accountable, inclusive and well governed WHO and we are here with you to support these efforts,” said Canada’s Christine Harmston. “Indeed, the hard work over recent years to strengthen organisational integrity, transparency and accountability is recognised, and this must be maintained.”

And “France will do its utmost to support the organisation, its teams and its Director-General”, stating: “WHO remains a normative benchmark for public health. That is a key role that it plays, and it’s something we must continue to defend  We continue to support ambitious reform of funding for WHO which, as an organization must not be weakened, because if it was weakened, then the health of all is endangered.” 

Africa will be ‘most seriously affected’

Senegal’s Sy, on behalf of the Africa region’s 47 member states, expressed full solidarity with WHO on this current criris although “it is clear the African region is going to be most seriously affected” by the US withdrawal.

“We urge that people show solidarity so that what will be an immense gap for the African region, can be plugged,” said Sy.

Even Ethiopia, which opposed the re-election of Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, thanked him for his report. Ethiopian Health Minister Dr Mekdes Daba also called on “all member states to support the WHO investment round and honour a collective commitment of increasing accessed contributions”. 

Ethiopian Health Minister Dr Mekdes Daba, seated alongside US representative Dr Steve Smith

Tedros highlights challenges and achievements

The member states spoke after a detailed report from Tedros about the challenges and progress made by the WHO over the past year, beginning with his life being in danger during an attack on Yemen’s airport in late 2024.

He outlined the significant health challenges and an impressive list of achievements of the global body – from eliminating tropical diseases to a new guideline on midwifery.

Tedros was in Tanzania supporting the country in responding to a Marburg virus outbreak when US President Donald Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from WHO.

“We regret the decision, and we hope the US will reconsider. We would welcome constructive dialogue to preserve and strengthen the historic relationship between WHO and the USA that helped bring significant impacts like the eradication of smallpox,” said Tedros, who also rebuffed Trump’s reasons for withdrawing.

Responding to Trump’s Executive Orders

Trump’s Executive Order gives four reasons for the US leaving the WHO. First, WHO’s “failure to adopt urgently needed reforms” – yet over the past seven years, WHO has implemented “the deepest and most wide-ranging reforms in the organization’s history”, said Tedros.

Its transformation process “has touched every part of our work: our strategy, operating model, processes, partnerships, financing, workforce and culture”, and implemented 85 of the 97 reforms proposed in the Secretariat Implementation Plan on reform.

Second, Trump said WHO “demands unfairly onerous payments from the US, out of proportion with what other countries contribute”.

But member states “understand how assessed contributions are calculated” and “some countries choose to make higher voluntary contributions than others”, said Tedros. In the past budgetary period, the US voluntary contributions were higher than its assessed contributions.

The US contribution to WHO in 2023

“Addressing the imbalance between assessed and voluntary contributions, and reducing WHO’s over-reliance on a handful of traditional donors, has been one of the major areas of our transformation,” Tedros noted.

Third, the order refers to WHO’s alleged “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises”.

“From the moment we picked up the first signals of ‘viral pneumonia’ in Wuhan, we asked for more information, activated our emergency incident management system, alerted the world, convened global experts, and published comprehensive guidance for countries on how to protect their populations and health systems – all before the first death from this new disease was reported in China on the 11th of January 2020,” said Tedros.

Multiple independent reviews of the global response to COVID-19 made more than 300 recommendations to address the challenges and weaknesses.

“In response to those recommendations, WHO and our member states have taken many steps to strengthen global health security: the Pandemic Fund; the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence; the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub; the Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing; the Global Health Emergency Corps; the interim Medical Countermeasures Network, and more,” said Tedros.

Trump’s final reason is WHO’s “inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence” from member states.

“As a UN agency, WHO is impartial and exists to serve all countries and all people. Our member states ask us for many things, and we always try to help as much as we can. But when what they ask is not supported by scientific evidence, or is contrary to our mission to support global health, we say no, politely,” Tedros noted.

Higher members’ fees, lower base budget

Dr Jerome Walcott (right), health minister of Barbados, chairs the EB.

The WHO’s Programme, Budget and Administrative Committee (PBAC) committee, which met before the EB, proposed that members’ assessed contributions be increased by 20%. This is in line with a 2023 World Health Assembly resolution that maps out that members’ fees should cover 50% of the WHO’s funding by 2030.

Tedros described the increase as “a critical element of our long-term plan to broaden our donor base, and will over the long term reduce the burden of financing for traditional donors, including the US.

“We therefore continue to seek the support and engagement of all member states, including the US, for our shared vision to put WHO on a more sustainable financial footing,” he told the EB.

The Africa region, via Senegal, committed to the increased fees despite economic challenges.

PBAC also proposed to decrease the base segment of the 2026–2027 budget to $4.9 billion rather than the $5,324 billion proposed before the US announcement – slightly less than the current budget for 2024/25 ($4.968 billion).

In light of the funding crunch, the 34-member of the EB met informally on Sunday to discuss PBAC’s proposals.

“There was a common understanding that WHO is in a difficult situation and that our consideration of the budget and on WHO reform, could not be business as usual. In response, WHO would pursue the twin goals of resource mobilisation and efficiency gains,” EB chair Dr Jerome Walcott, health minister of Barbados, told the start of the EB.

As part of discussions on improved efficiency, delegates noted that having too many resolutions – 23 are being prepared for the World Health Assembly in May – dissipated the focus of the WHA.

The EB also discussed the process to be followed if member states had complaints about the Director-General.

Image Credits: https://open.who.int/2024-25/contributors/top25.

The world remains unprepared for another pandemic, according to the  International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat (IPPS) which published its Fourth Implementation Report of the 100 Days Mission (100DM) last Friday.

The IPPS is an initiative aimed at ensuring global access to diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines (DTVs) within 100 days of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)

Critical gaps remain, particularly in developing and distributing diagnostics and therapeutics for diseases with pandemic potential. 

Only six new diagnostic tests (for Chikungunya and Ebola) and one therapeutic (Ebola monoclonal antibody treatment) were approved, with no new vaccines for priority pathogens from Scorecard 1.0.

Seven vaccines entered Phase 1 trials, but only one advanced to Phase 3. The therapeutics pipeline saw just two candidates progress to phase 1 and 2 trials, highlighting limited development for non-COVID pathogens.

Non-COVID funding for diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines fell by 31% from 2022 to 2023, with sharp decreases for Rift Valley Fever (92%), MERS (84%), and SARS (77%), while overall R&D funding for priority pathogens remains reactive.

The US government accounted for 60% of global R&D funding (68% excluding COVID-19), highlighting the need for other funders to step in and share both investments and benefits.

“With the world still grappling with the impacts of COVID-19 and the emergence of new threats like H5N1 and mpox, the need for the 100 Days Mission has never been more urgent,” said IPPS chair Dr Mona Nemer in a IPPS media release.

“Despite progress, significant gaps remain in diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines that must be addressed through sustained investment, harmonised regulatory frameworks, and global collaboration. The clock is ticking—now is the time to act decisively to strengthen our collective health security and ensure no country is left behind,” added Nemer, who is Chief Science Adviser of Canada.

Three action areas

The 100 Days Mission Implementation report highlights three key areas for action in 2025 that would ensure the world is better prepared for future outbreaks. The report calls on all stakeholders to work together to:

  • Reinvigorate the therapeutics pipeline with a focus on early-stage R&D: Prioritise early-stage research and development to advance therapeutics for priority viral families, ensuring robust pipelines are prepared to address emerging threats.
  • Enhance coordination to implement the Diagnostics 100DM roadmap: Collaborate with global partners to implement the 100 Days Mission diagnostics roadmap, improving alignment and advancing innovation across the diagnostics sector.
  • Sustain clinical trial infrastructure and strengthen preparatory regulatory approaches: Ensure clinical trial networks remain functional between pandemics and adopt harmonised regulatory approaches to accelerate approvals during emergencies.

Case studies

The report also includes a case study on lessons from the mpox response, which highlights the competing health priorities, evidence gaps and institutional dynamics that affected the speed of the response.

The report also highlights Rwanda’s response to the 2024 Marburg outbreak as a model of 100DM principles in action at a country level. By leveraging pre-established partnerships and rapidly deploying vaccines and therapeutics, Rwanda reduced the outbreak’s fatality rate from 88% to 22.7%. It also enabled trials of vaccines and therapeutics within nine days of the outbreak being declared.

Looking ahead, the IPPS calls on G7 and G20 leaders, with Canada and South Africa respectively assuming their presidencies for 2025, to catalyse global action by:

  • Accelerating diagnostic, therapeutic and vaccine R&D for priority pathogens with equity embedded by design
  • Agreeing a shared framework for regulatory preparedness in order to increase harmonisation and safely accelerate emergency authorisations.
  • Enhancing collective health security by expanding biosafety, biosecurity and pre- clinical capabilities

With just two years left in its mandate, the IPPS remains committed to working with all partners to drive systemic change and ensure that the lessons of COVID-19 and subsequent outbreaks result in a safer, more prepared world.

UN peacekeeping vehicle MONUSCO, patrols streets of Goma, DRC as the rebel takeover of the city sends hundreds of thousands of people fleeing.

Hospitals in Goma, the city at the epicentre of the M23 rebel advance in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are being flooded with casualties. Health facilities and workers have been targeted in attacks. Humanitarian food stores are being looted. Women are at increased risk of rape, and the safe evacuation of wounded has been impeded by the closure of Goma airport, said the World Health Organization and other UN bodies at a joint press briefing Friday in Geneva on the worsening crisis in the DRC.

There are currently hundreds of people in Goma’s overloaded hospitals, mostly with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, said Adelheid Marschang, DRC Emergency Response Coordinator for WHO.

Some 700 people are believed to have been killed and 2800 injured, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking from UN Headquarters in New York City later on Friday.

Marschang stressed that WHO was especially worried for the health and safety of women and girls who are at a higher risk of violence, including rape.

With people  water stations and electricity grids damaged, and bodies of victims visible on Goma’s main streets, the conditions were rife for the spread of infectious diseases like cholera and measles, Marschang added. The fighting has led to a halt to immunizations against mpox – in the eastern DRC region which is the epicenter of the current epidemic, in which more than 20,000 cases were reported in North and South Kivu in 2024, and 6,000 in the past six weeks.  See related story here:

US Aid Pause Hampers Response to Multiple African Disease Outbreaks and Escalating DRC Conflict

The eastern DRC region also reported 21 672 cholera cases, including 59 deaths, and 11 710 measles cases, including 115 deaths last year. Before  Goma airport closed on Saturday, WHO was able to send critical medical supplies for trauma and emergency care, infection prevention, and cholera, among others. WHO was providing tents for hospitals to expand their treatment capacities, she also said. But with air and road passages out of the conflict zone blocked, evacuation of hundreds of wounded people remained in limbo, the WHO coordinator noted.

Food insecurity another worry

Jens Laerke, of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said colleagues remaining in Goma had reported heavy small arms fire, mortar fire and the presence of dead bodies in the street. There were reports of gender-based violence and rape, committed by M-23 fighters, and the looting of a humanitarian warehouse and other facilities.

He reiterated recent calls for humanitarian pauses to facilitate the safe evacuation of wounded people and civilians trapped in combat zones, as well as the safe reopening of Goma airport and land crossings between DRC and Rwanda so as to enable people to flee the violence.

Speaking from the DRC capital of Kinshasa, Shelley Thakral, of the World Food Programme, said that WFP had been obligated to halt its activities. She also expressed concern about rising food insecurity in Goma as well as rising food prices as airports and major access roads remain blocked. The next 24 hours would be critical, she said, as people started to run low on supplies.

OCHA has allocated $17 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) to support lifesaving assistance – yet it remains unclear how relief agencies can even mobilize the aid to people in need, given the ongoing hostilities, officials also said.

Internally displaced fleeing Goma, where they once sought refuge

Displaced persons near Goma – most camps have now been emptied due to the M-23 rebel’s advances.

Goma, which sits along Lake Kivu adjacent to the Rwandan border, was once a place of refuge for some 700,000 displaced people fleeing rebel violence elsewhere in eastern Congo. But since the flare-up of hostilities near the city at the beginning of January, the area has now seen an emptying out of the massive camps that had developed on the outskirts of the city.

On Friday, sites hosting at least 300,000 internally displaced people were completely emptied due to the rapid advancements of the frontlines. Non-essential humanitarian staff had been relocated, but critical personnel remained in Goma. The UN’s emergency fund CERF had immediately allocated US$17 million to support the humanitarian response.

Sudan and DRC – civilians caught in crossfire

On Friday, horrific images also emerged in Sudan from Al Saudi Teaching Hospital in Sudan’s city of Al Fasher, reported Patrick Youssef, Regional Director, Africa, for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He described how dozens of people had reportedly been killed in an attack that damaged the hospital building, which the ICRC supports.

At the same time, in Goma, heavy shelling and shooting send more than 100 people within 24 hours to the city’s N’dosho Hospital, where an ICRC surgical team is based, he observed, noting that “they would normally receive this number of patients in a month.”

These were two different conflicts in different countries, but there is a common thread that is alarming, he noted: civilians were paying an increasingly heavy price for brutal armed conflicts.

–Updated 2.2.2024 with estimates of casualties from Goma fighting.

Image Credits: MONUSCO/Aubin Mukoni, © UNHCR/Blaise Sanyila.

Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr) day 2 confirmation hearing
Robert F Kennedy Jr Day 2 of his Senate Confirmation hearings for the nomination of Secretary of Health and Human Services.

WASHINGTON, DC – Robert F Kennedy (RFK) Jr’s Senate confirmation as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary faced fresh obstacles on Thursday after Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) said he “wasn’t sure “ he could vote for someone “who spent decades criticizing vaccines, and who’s financially vested in finding fault with vaccines — can he change his attitudes and approach now ?” 

“I’ve got to figure that out for my vote,” he said, referencing his position on the Senate Finance Committee, which must vote to advance his nomination to the full floor. 

His comments came during a second day of grueling Senate confirmation hearings, which drilled down further on Kennedy’s beliefs on vaccine safety, funding, and his past statements claiming vaccines cause autism.  During the hearings, he walked back many of his past statements opposing vaccines and, conversely, supporting a woman’s right to abortion. In his second hearing, on Thursday, Kennedy also refused to comment on if vaccines cause autism, also in response to questions from Senator Cassidy. 

Kennedy, who would oversee a $1.7 trillion agency that includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), has vowed to “put the health of Americans back on track” by addressing the nations growing mental health and chronic health crises – the latter by addressing unhealthy foods and environmental exposures, as well as high drug costs.

All eyes on medical doctor from Louisiana

Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana)
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) asked Kennedy to “convince him” that he believes that the measles vaccine does not cause autism.

All eyes are now on Cassidy, the medical doctor from Louisiana who also sits on the Senate Finance Committee, the body that will vote on whether to advance Kennedy’s confirmation to a vote before the full Senate. Kennedy would need the support of nearly all Republican senators for a positive recommendation.  

In a series of questions built around his own experiences as a medical doctor, Cassidy zeroed in on Kennedy’s  stance regarding vaccines such as Hepatitis B – whose benefits he said he’d witnessed firsthand – reducing  serious liver disease by 95% since its introduction.

“Will you reassure mothers unequivocally and without qualification, that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism?” He asked the HHS nominee.

Kennedy answered he would, “if the data is there.”

Cassidy retorted “And I don’t mean to cut you off, but that really is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. There is the data, because I used to treat Hepatitis B as I said, I know the data is there,” replied Cassidy. Kennedy then pledged that he would publicly apologize for past statements if he’s proven wrong on the vaccine’s benefits versus its risks.

Later citing research papers disproving vaccines’ links to autism, Cassidy asked RFK Jr to “convince him” that “that you will become the public health advocate, but not just churn old information so that there’s never a conclusion” – a question Kennedy also sidestepped. 

Taking aim at the sentiments of his fellow Republicans, Cassidy also raised concerns over whether Kennedy could taint Trump’s legacy by advocating vaccine hesitant policies that lead to a loss of life. “You will have the responsibility to restore trust in our public health institutions…” he told Kennedy. “ I want President Trump to be successful. It’s important for our country. Any action you take as HHS Secretary will shape his legacy. And we both want that legacy to be positive.”

Although Thursday’s hearing took place in the Senate HELP committee, Cassidy is an important swing vote for RFK Jr.’s confirmation on the Finance Committee, which  is expected to vote next week on whether to advance his confirmation to the full Senate. 

The committee can make a recommendation that is “favorable,” “unfavorable”, or make none at all.  

RFK Jr refutes data that COVID-19 vaccine saved millions of lives

Bernie Sanders RFK jr hearing HHS jan 2025
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) questions RFK Jr on whether he believes the COVID-19 vaccines, developed under President Trump’s Project Warpspeed, saved lives.

In a heated exchange with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Kennedy also asserted that “we don’t have a good surveillance system” to say whether the COVID-19 vaccine was successful in saving lives. “I don’t know,” he said.

 In fact, the vaccines, which were developed under the Trump administration, saved over three million lives during the pandemic period, according to US research. Kennedy continued to cast doubt on the COVID-19 vaccines, defending his efforts to sue the CDC over its ongoing recommendations that most Americans, six months and older, get the vacccine.

Sanders called Kennedy’s statements “really problematic”  – casting doubt on conclusions “established” by the scientific community.

Kennedy also said he stood by previous statements that “we should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to whites, because their immune system is better than ours,” under questioning from Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Maryland).

His assertions that African Americans have a “better” immune system prompted sharp criticism from Alsobrooks saying “what vaccination schedule should I have received?” 

“Mr. Kennedy, with all due respect, that is so dangerous,” said the senator, who is African American. “Your voice would be a voice that parents would listen to, that is so dangerous.”

In other remarks, Kennedy also said:

  • The country’s vaccine safety data systems are ‘broken’ and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps the data “under locks” and will not let independent scientists review raw data.
  • Praised the popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs but said they should not be the first-line treatment for obesity.
  • Promised to relinquish rights to legal fees that he might otherwise receive from anti-HPV vaccine lawsuits in which he has continued to be involved as part of his legal practice.
  • Denied ever calling Lyme’s disease a “biological weapon,” contradicting statements made on Wednesday.

Pledge to address environmental contamination and “broken” health system

Kennedy also described how his experience as an environmental lawyer working with hunter’s fisherman and farmers along the Hudson River had sensitized him to the health impacts of pesticides and environmental pollutants early in his career. 

He has pledged  to tackle the obesity crisis, unhealthy processed foods, and environmental pollution to “make America healthy again” – as well as confronting big Pharma and high drug prices – messages that clearly resonated with many senators.

“Something is poisoning the American people and we know that the primary culprits are our changing food supply, highly processed foods,” he said, citing the unusually high proportion of obese people in the US in comparison to other developed nations, something that he called an “existential threat”.

But it’s unclear how much leeway he’d really have to move such a massive agenda in the new Trump administration – which is deeply indebted to big food and the pharma industry for supporting Trump’s election campaign. 

See the first day of coverage of the RFK Jr hearings here: 

RFK Jr Backtracks Anti-Vax Statements at Start of Contentious Confirmation Hearing

Watch the full confirmation hearing:

 

A 2022 meeting of the WHO Working Group on Sustainable Finance hammer out the final agreement on increasing member state contributions in 2022.

Finances will dominate the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 156th executive board meeting, which begins on Monday (3 February) under the shadow of the withdrawal of the United States, the body’s biggest member state.

As the US has to give a year’s notice of its withdrawal from WHO, it is still technically a member until January 2026 and has a seat on the 34-person board.

Tressa Rae Finerty has been appointed the new Chargé d’Affaires for the US mission in Geneva. And on the eve of the EB session, it appeared she would be leading a 10-member US delegation to the eight-day WHO Executive Board session that begins Monday – despite the US announcement that it is leaving the organization. Finerty’s name, as well as that of the State Department’s new “Team Lead” for Global Health Security and Diplomacy,  appeared on a published WHO roster of EB participants, Sunday evening, ending speculation that the USA might not show up at all. 

List of USA participants in the WHO EB156 session.

The opening day of the EB focuses on finances and efficiency, kicking off with the Director General’s report, which as of Friday evening remained unpublished in the EB’s otherwise detailed agenda.

The report of the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee (PBAC), which has been meeting this week, will also take centre stage as the committee will have had to grapple with the imminent loss of some 18% of the WHO’s budget. Although, legally, the US exit is only supposed to take effect in a year’s time, Washington has meanwhile frozen its contributions. 

Also on the agenda is the presentation of the first draft of the proposed budget for 2026/ 27. The total proposed budget for 2026-2027 is $7,473.2 million, a 9% increase from the previous biennium, divided into four segments: base programmes mostly aimed at strengthening member states’ technical capacities;  emergency operations and appeals, polio eradication and special programmes.

However, without the US contribution, it is unclear how this budget will be raised. Ostensibly, the US must pay its remaining assessed dues before finalizing its withdrawal, but not voluntary funds, which form the bulk of its annual contribution.

Universal health coverage

There will be a focus on member states’ progress in extending access to universal health coverage (UHC), including primary healthcare and “integrated people-centred health services”. Particular areas of focus include noncommunicable diseases, looking forward to the September UN High Level Meeting on NCDs and reviewing strategies for mental health and social connection, cervical cancer elimination, and oral health.  A new draft resolution on rare diseases, obtained by Health Policy Watch, commits WHO and member states to redouble efforts to find treatments and cures for conditions that often fall below the radar of R&D initiatives because of the comparatively few numbers of people affected.  The resolution, co-sponsored by Brazil and 11 other nations, calls for countries to create national task forces and registries of rare diseases, improve access to rare diseases diagnosis and treatment, as well as R&D.  It has received strong support from a wide variety of patient and medicines access groups.

Health Emergencies raging from Ukraine to Gaza, DRC and Sudan, are also expected to get significant attention at the meeting.

The Director-General will also submit a report on the third review of WHO’s Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel , which facilitates the ethical migration of health workers.

Ambitious new climate and air pollution action 

Air pollution darkens skis in Delhi during the November 2024 seasonal emergency.

The board will also need to take positions on three major new documents on environmental health – including a new draft Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health; an updated ‘Road Map’ for addressing the health impacts of air pollution; and a controversial proposal for WHO to play a leading role in a new intergovernmental science-policy panel on pollution and health, which is part of the UNEP-led International Framework on Chemicals and Waste management.  

The Air Pollution road map includes an ambitious new voluntary target, which would aspire to see countries achieve a 50% reduction in deaths related to human-made air pollution sources by 2040, relative to 2015 baseline values. 

The previous WHA air pollution roadmap, approved in 2016, only a year after the very first WHA resolution calling for action on air pollution and health was approved, contained no such ambition. 

However nearly a decade later, little progress has yet been made in pollution hotspots like South Asia – with air pollution as the number 1 risk factor, accounting for some 2.7 million deaths annually, 2 million of which are in India.  

The EB’s consideration of the new Air Pollution road map comes in the lead up to the Second WHO Global Conference Air Pollution and Health, 24-28 March in Cartagena. At the conference, the first since 2018, countries are expected to make fresh commitments to tackling air pollution and health – in domains ranging from more stringent air quality standards – to better monitoring, enforcement and reporting.  

At a preparatory meeting this week in Cartagena, WHO launched a “call to action” to the broader health community – for which it is hoping to gain tens of millions of signatures. 

It remains to be seen if the administration of new US President Donald Trump will oppose the new WHO targets for reducing air pollution levels globally in the same way that it can be expected to oppose WHO initiatives on climate and health – (which it denies is an issue at all).  

In the past, Trump has said he wants “really clean air and water”. But his recent executive orders included numerous measures to loosen restrictions on vehicle efficiency and tailpipe pollution emissions, lower standards for energy efficient appliances, and promote fossil fuels exploration– all of which contribute to more health-harmful air pollution as well as to climate change. 

-Updated Sunday 2.2.2024, with list of US EB participants.

Image Credits: Germany's UN Mission in Geneva , Chetan Bhattacharji.

Dr Jean Kaseya

Ebola in Uganda. Marburg in Tanzania. Cholera in Angola. War in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that escalated the risk of multiple disease outbreaks – and then the United States decision to halt foreign aid for 90 days and order grantees to stop all work.

“This is not the kind of week we like,” Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) told a media briefing on Thursday.

“I was shaking, to be honest with you, when there was this US pause regarding the [Marburg] response in Tanzania,” Kaseya admitted. “And if we talk about mpox, we have a pledge of $500 million from the US. We got around 60% from what the US committed, and we are waiting for this 40%.”

However, Kaseya expressed gratitude that the US had exempted “life-saving humanitarian assistance” from the 90-day pause. The US State Department has defined humanitarian assistance as “core to life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance”. 

Africa CDC is waiting to engage with the US about its financial assistance once the appointment of the US Secretary for Health and Human Services (HHS) is finalised and the head of the US CDC is appointed. Trump’s HHS pick, Robert F Kennedy Jr is currently in Senate confirmation hearings.

Uganda reports Ebola – and maybe DRC too

Uganda announced an Ebola outbreak on Thursday, following the death on Wednesday of a 32-year-old male nurse in Kampala after five days of illness.

Uganda has set up an incident management team and is tracing 45 contacts, mostly people working in Mbale Hospital in eastern Uganda and Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Kampala.

Kaseya said that there was also a possible Ebola outbreak in DRC where seven out of 12 suspected cases had died. Samples from five of the cases have been sent to a laboratory in Kinshasa for diagnosis.

Ebola in Uganda 30 January 2025

Conditions in war-torn Goma ripe for epidemic

Kaseya expressed deep concern about people in Goma, the capital of DRC’s North Kivu province, which was taken over by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels this week.

Hundreds of people have reportedly died and the city is without water, electricity and the internet. 

However, Kaseya said there was a high risk of multiple health outbreaks in the heavily congested city, home to up to three million people including almost one million who have fled fighting elsewhere.

“We are talking about an area where so many people are together. Health infrastructure is broken. Access to basic services, even water and sanitation, doesn’t really exist. In addition to mpox, we have cholera outbreaks, measles and other diseases. I’m calling on our leaders to stop this unnecessary war that already killed 300 people. The guns cannot kill all of us, but outbreaks can.”

Kaseya said he did not know whether Goma’s health laboratory had been affected, and if it had been destroyed in fighting this would affect the country’s disease surveillance.

The rebels control the airport, so the L16 mpox vaccines donated by Japan that recently arrived in the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, can’t reach Goma at present.

Meanwhile, mpox continues to dominate the outbreak statistics on the continent with almost 10,000 suspected cases reported in the past week along with 85 deaths. The one bright spark, however, is that Burundi has finally agreed to start vaccinating its citizens after months of scepticism.

Africa CDC is also supporting Angola to address a cholera outbreak that had already killed 51 people and infected around 1200 people. Some 2000 cholera vaccines will reach  Angola on 7 February. 

‘Difficult times’

“We are facing a very difficult moment. Western countries are decreasing their aid budgets,” said Kaseya, noting that in 2023, the US gave Africa in $8 billion in assistance, mostly for health and humanitarian assistance. 

“African countries are facing a tough economic situation. Projection from Africa CDC shows that we can expect two to four million additional deaths per year by 2025, which will push 39 million people into poverty, and reverse even the gain in mortality almost comparable to what we had 25 years ago,” said Kaseya.

“All of these conditions can lead one day to a pandemic from Africa. And if there is a pandemic from Africa, all of us in the world will be affected.”

African leaders are meeting on 14 February at the invitation of Rwandan President Paul Kagame to discuss more sustainable financing for health.

 

 

Robert F Kennedy (RFK) Jr, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), faced two days of tense questioning from senators on the finance and health committees. He walked back many of his past statements on vaccines and abortion, and emphasized his commitment to address America’s chronic illness, mental health, and environmental exposure crises. 

WASHINGTON –  Robert F Kennedy Jr appeared at the first of two Senate confirmation hearings on Wednesday, facing sometimes tense standoffs between the HHS nominee and Senate Democrats, as well a few Republicans, critical of his record of vaccine hesitancy, skepticism of research, and pro-choice stance. 

Kennedy, who would oversee a $1.7 trillion agency that includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), is a vocal anti-vaxxer who has vowed to “put the health of Americans back on track.” 

The hearing comes as the Trump administration paused health communications, and ceased global health funding and programs, including HIV-medication services. 

His hearing in front of the Senate Finance Committee was interrupted by protesters, some of whom wore “Make Polio Great Again” shirts, and also applause from the crowd when he promised to “make America healthy again.” There were also protests outside the hearing.

A medical doctor protests RFK’s nomination outside the Senate hearing.

Senate Republicans praised his emphasis on addressing the chronic disease burden in the US, and expanding rural health care access. “Mr Kennedy, you represent a voice for an inspiring coalition of Americans who are deeply committed to improving the health and well-being of our nation,” said committee chair Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). 

But others questioned his shifting stance on abortion, vaccines, and food policy, accusing Kennedy of switching his views for political and monetary gain.

Kennedy made $2.5 million in lawsuit referrals against vaccine companies, and refused to commit to withdraw his own personal support of anti-vax groups that he has founded and sponsored. In response to a query by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), he also refused to commit to withdraw from his involvement in anti-vax lawsuits that have yielded him millions of dollars in income annually prior to his HHS nomination.

New statements contradict long anti-vax record 

“News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. Well, I am neither; I am pro-safety … All of my kids are vaccinated, and I believe vaccines have a critical role in healthcare,” said Kennedy in his opening statement. 

Kennedy insisted that he was not “anti-vaccine”, and that he merely supports more testing and safety studies. As founder of the non-profit Children’s Health Defense, he has repeatedly cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of childhood vaccinations, and his organization continues to push the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism.

But in a contentious exchange with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), RFK Jr dismissed the senator’s questions about his past as head of Children’s Health Defense. 

He also refused to say that healthcare is a human right, saying that the chronically ill and those who make poor health choices should not have the same access to healthcare. A smoker, he said, would be “taking from the pool [healthcare costs]”.

Promises to revolutionize approach to chronic illness

At the same time, he said he’d find new ways to tackle high drug prices, and address the root causes of America’s obesity and addiction epidemics with healthier foods and more mental health services – messages that clearly resonated with many senators.

“Something is poisoning the American people and we know that the primary culprits are our changing food supply, highly processed foods,” he said, citing the unusually high proportion of obese people in the US in comparison to other developed nations, something that he called an “existential threat”.

He added that the government needed to support a transition away from chemical dependence to “regenerative” agriculture to support healthier food production.

Sidestepping abortion questions

RFK Jr testimony day 1 Jan 2025
RFK Jr testified before the US Senate Finance Committee in his first of a two-day confirmation hearing schedule.

Several Democratic senators questioned Kennedy on his open pro-choice stance, quoting back to him his past statements. “In 2023, you came to New Hampshire and said, ‘I’m pro choice. I don’t think the government should tell people what they cannot do with their body.’ But you also said, ‘we need to trust the women to make that choice, because I don’t trust the government to make any choices,’” said Senator Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire).

“It is remarkable that you have such a long record of fighting for women’s reproductive freedom, and really great that my Republican colleagues are so open to voting for a pro-choice HHS Secretary.

“When was it that you decided to sell out the values you’ve had your whole life in order to be given power by President Trump?” Hassan asked.

Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) brought up more of Kennedy’s statements, asking “did you say on a podcast ‘I wouldn’t leave it [abortion] to the states, my belief is we should leave it to the woman. We shouldn’t have the government involved, even if it’s full term’?” 

Kennedy did not refute his past remarks, but said “every abortion is a tragedy” and that he serves at the discretion of the president’s policies. 

He was also questioned on his stance on the abortion drug mifepristone, saying he promised to look into the safety of the drug. 

Kennedy “agreed to disagree” with Trump about climate change

He said that he’d “agreed to disagree” with Trump on the impacts of climate change. Trump recently withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement. But he said he’d uphold the new US Administration’s positions on restricting abortion rights – “I serve at the pleasure of the president. I’m going to implement his policies.” 

Queried about whether Medicaid, the US health insurance program for America’s poorest, “was a critical program,” he said “I believe it’s a critical program but it’s not working as well as it should be. I support making it better. ”

Family speaks out against RFK Jr

The hearing followed the publication of two new appeals by prominent Kennedy relatives to reject his appointment.

“Bobby preys on the desperation of parents of sick children, vaccinating his own kids while building a following, hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs,” said his first cousin, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of assassinated US President John F Kennedy.

In a letter to Senators that was also released on social media, Caroline Kennedy said that he “encouraged” siblings and cousins “down the path of substance abuse”. RFK’s brother died of a drug overdose.

RFK’s niece, medical doctor Kerry Kennedy Meltzer, released emails from her uncle in which he falsely links childhood vaccinations to autism, questions the safety of flu vaccines and shares articles by COVID-19 anti-vaxers.

However, in his opening statement to the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, Kennedy said that he supported the measles and polio vaccines.

“In my advocacy I have often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions. Well, I won’t apologize for that. We have massive health problems in this country that we must face honestly.”

 

Image Credits: CSPAN.