Amid RFK Jr vaccine worries, FDA’s Peter Marks remains calm

The nomination of Robert F Kennedy Jr — known as RFK Jr — for the role of US Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by President-elect Donald Trump sent shares in vaccine companies sharply downwards.

Since RFK Jr is an anti-vaccine activist, some perceived that his nomination for such a prominent position in US healthcare could lead to reduced adherence to existing and future vaccinations amid Americans, and increase scepticism around these products in a country where wider distrust has already been on the rise in recent years.

There is concern that if RFK Jr is given major control over children’s health as well as over food and medicines, the impact on childhood vaccination rates could lead to the spread of diseases including measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough, diphtheria and hepatitis B. Vaccines have also been credited for halting the spread of diseases among adults such as flu, respiratory syncytial virus and COVID-19.