Public health experts say Robert F. Kennedy Jr is exactly who they thought he was.

The Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary — who is also the nation’s most well-known vaccine skeptic — is remaking the agency in his image, casting doubt on the benefits of vaccines, and erecting new barriers that will make it harder for people who want shots to get them, like requiring new vaccines to be tested against placebos.

During his confirmation hearings and other recent congressional testimony, Kennedy sought to distance himself from the anti-vaccine movement.

He argued he is simply seeking good data about vaccine safety. He assured lawmakers he would not take away anyone’s vaccines and specifically pledged to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that he would not make any changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine advisory panel.

While testifying at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on May 14, Kennedy said his views on vaccines were “irrelevant.”

“I don't want to seem like I'm being evasive, but I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me,” he told lawmakers, after being asked whether he would vaccinate his own children today against measles.

Yet in the past week, Kennedy made an end run around the traditional process to change the recommendations about who should get a COVID-19 vaccine.

He threatened to bar government scientists from publishing in leading medical journals, and his........

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