Bernie Sanders has called for Robert F Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump’s health secretary, to resign, amid mounting criticism of his handling of the nation’s health agencies and his long record of opposing vaccines.
In an opinion piece published in the New York Times on Saturday, the Vermont senator accused Kennedy of “endangering the health of the American people now and into the future”. He added: “He must resign.”
Sanders attacked the White House over its dismissal of Susan Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the resignation of four other senior CDC officials who left in protest. Monarez had reportedly refused to approve Kennedy’s policies without scrutiny.
“Despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community, secretary Kennedy has continued his longstanding crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts,” Sanders wrote.
Citing Kennedy’s past statements, Sanders said the health secretary had “absurdly claimed that ‘there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective’,” and noted that one of Kennedy’s main sources of evidence had lost his medical licence and seen his research retracted.
Sanders warned that Kennedy’s influence at the Department of Health and Human Services amounted to “a full-blown war on science, on public health and on truth itself”. He said Kennedy’s policies risked undermining the childhood immunisation schedule, which protects children against diseases such as measles, chickenpox and polio.
“The danger here is that diseases that have been virtually wiped out because of safe and effective vaccines will resurface and cause enormous harm,” he said.
The senator argued that Kennedy’s approach had already made it harder for Americans to access Covid vaccines, particularly younger adults and children, who now face additional bureaucracy and higher out-of-pocket costs.
The Trump administration has faced rare bipartisan criticism following Monarez’s dismissal, which coincided with steep budget cuts at the CDC and concerns about political interference.
Kennedy, who has been a vocal opponent of vaccines for decades, has continued to make unverified medical claims since assuming his post. More than 750 current and former health agency employees signed a letter last week branding him “an existential threat to public health”. The letter accused him of helping to dismantle the nation’s health infrastructure and of spreading false information.
The turmoil comes against the backdrop of a deadly shooting at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta earlier this month. A 30-year-old gunman, who had been influenced by misinformation about vaccines, opened fire on the building, killing a police officer before taking his own life.
