RFK Jr. petitioned FDA in 2021 to revoke authorization of all COVID vaccines
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's nominated to become the next health secretary, asked the federal government to revoke its authorization of all COVID-19 vaccines in May 2021, just as vaccinated Americans began returning to a sense of normalcy after pandemic lockdowns.
The request came via a citizen petition filed by Kennedy and Meryl Nass on behalf of Children's Health Defense, a group founded by Kennedy that advocates against the recommended vaccine schedule for children.
The petition, first reported by the New York Times, asked the Food and Drug Administration to "revoke Emergency Use Authorizations for existing COVID vaccines and refrain from approving and licensing them."
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It came five months after then-President Donald Trump proudly announced the FDA's green light of the vaccine was imminent.
"They say it's somewhat of a miracle, and I think that's true," Trump told reporters of the vaccine in December 2020.
Since then, the COVID vaccine has been credited with saving millions of lives and alleviating the burden on hospitals that became overwhelmed in the early days of the pandemic.
The FDA denied the petition in its response three months later, saying it found "no basis" in the petition to pull the vaccines from the market.
"FDA is not aware of any information indicating that the known and potential benefits of the authorized COVID-19 Vaccines are outweighed by their known and potential risks, nor has Petitioner provided any such information in the Petition," the agency wrote at the time.
Kennedy is soon expected to testify publicly before a Senate panel in a bid to shore up support for his nomination. He's expected to be pressed by Democrats and some Republicans on his past comments questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
In December 2021, Kennedy falsely claimed the COVID-19 vaccine was "the deadliest vaccine ever made."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend the COVID vaccine, saying data shows those who are vaccinated are less likely to die from complications of the virus than those who are unvaccinated.
Days before Kennedy filed his May 2021 petition, the CDC had just announced that fully vaccinated Americans could go without masks because it believed at the time immunization reduced a person's infectiousness. The agency would later reverse that decision after outbreaks occurred involving vaccinated individuals.
Pressed by an NBC interviewer in November whether he would have blocked the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine had he been in government at the time, Kennedy said, "I wouldn't have directly blocked it."
"I would have made sure that we had the best science, and there was no effort to do that at that time," he said.
Kennedy's spokesperson on the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Kennedy aide who worked at Children's Health Defense with him also did not immediately respond.
