The latest pronouncement from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., our Health and Human Services Secretary, landed with a familiar thud of misinformation: pediatricians, he claimed in a recent interview, are making money hand over fist from the vaccines they prescribe and administer. Let me be unequivocally clear: nothing could be further from the truth. For every parent, ensuring the right vaccine at the right time is paramount, and the ability to trust the person administering that vaccine is, for our children, a fundamental right. Kennedy’s repeated misrepresentations demonstrably endanger the most fragile part of our population and systematically erode the bedrock of trust between parents, children, and healthcare providers. This must stop.
Debunking the Myth of Vaccine Profit
The reality for pediatricians and family medicine practitioners stands in stark contrast to Kennedy’s narrative. Consider Dr. Stacey Bartell, who runs a small family medicine practice in a Detroit suburb. She desperately wants to offer vaccines to her patients, but the finances simply don’t work. Stocking enough vaccines means thousands of dollars upfront, with no guarantee of recouping the cost. Add to that the expense of special refrigerators, additional staff for inventory management, and the labyrinthine world of insurance billing, and it becomes an insurmountable financial liability. Dr. Bartell, like many, is forced to send her patients to pharmacies or county health departments for shots – a concession that, as she says, “hurts my heart.”
Experts widely agree: vaccines are a “money pit” for most practices, not a profit center. Research consistently shows that pediatricians either break even or lose money on immunizations. A 2017 study revealed that nearly a quarter of family medicine providers and 12 percent of pediatricians actively stopped purchasing vaccines due to prohibitive costs. Dr. David Higgins, a pediatrician and preventive medicine expert, rightly calls the idea that doctors vaccinate for profit “misleading and dangerous.” As he powerfully states, “We actually overcome obstacles to be able to provide them.”
Kennedy’s specific claims are equally baseless. His assertion that “50 percent of revenues to most pediatricians come from vaccines” is a statistic unknown to any medical expert. And his notion of “huge bonuses” from insurance companies for high immunization rates? A gross distortion. While about half of pediatricians do have “value-based contracts” that offer modest payments for hitting various health metrics, vaccination rates are just one of dozens of measures. These payments are small, and doctors rarely lose them due to low vaccination rates.
The true motivation of pediatricians is not financial gain. They willingly enter one of the lowest-paid medical specialties out of a profound commitment to children’s health. As Dr. Higgins succinctly puts it, “If we were motivated by profit, we’d make more money treating the complications of preventable diseases than by preventing them in the first place.”
The Systematic Undermining of Public Health Infrastructure
Kennedy’s misinformation isn’t just about money; it’s about systematically dismantling the public health infrastructure that protects our children. This week, several major medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Physicians (ACP), and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), filed a lawsuit against HHS and Kennedy over his “unlawful, unilateral vaccine changes.”
Their core accusation is chilling: Kennedy and HHS are intentionally taking away vaccine recommendations and unjustly replacing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) entire vaccine advisory panel. This isn’t a mere policy disagreement; it’s a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, an “arbitrary, capricious” decision made without following any ordinary process.
The impact is immediate and severe. Kennedy unilaterally cut COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women, not through official channels, but by posting an announcement on X (formerly Twitter). This action directly frustrates doctors’ ability to counsel patients, compromises the standard of care, increases risk for vulnerable populations like pregnant women, and, most insidiously, “erodes patient trust in all recommended vaccinations.” As Dr. Sindhu K. Srinivas, president of the SMFM, warns, “Every second the Secretary’s dangerous and unsupported decisions… stay in effect, the Directive is putting up barriers for our members’ high-risk pregnant patients to access the COVID-19 vaccine… increasing the risk of serious infection and illness.”
Further compounding the crisis, Kennedy removed all 17 members from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—the linchpin committee that dictates which vaccines are recommended and when—and appointed seven new members. His justification? A “clean sweep… to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.” Yet, despite his assurances, some new members have openly espoused anti-vaccine sentiments. The new ACIP chair has already announced alarming new work groups, including one to review the cumulative effects of childhood vaccines and another to re-examine long-established vaccines like the Hepatitis B vaccine at birth—a vaccine experts credit with virtually eliminating the virus in children. Dr. Susan J. Kressly, president of the AAP, rightly states that these decisions are “founded in fear and not evidence” and “will make our children and communities more vulnerable to infectious diseases.” The U.S. immunization system, a cornerstone of public health, is being jeopardized.
Kennedy’s claims of removing “conflicts of interest” are particularly disingenuous. A Science journal investigation found minimal industry payments to ACIP members, with rigorous existing policies in place to prevent undue influence. As vaccinologist Paul Offit bluntly puts it, Kennedy’s actions have “nothing to do with real undue influence by pharmaceutical companies. This is just him trying to stack the committee with people who are like-minded, so he can do what he’s interested in doing, which is to tear down, or to make vaccines less available or less affordable.” This accusation gains weight when contrasted with Kennedy’s own financial ties, including over $850,000 in referral fees from a law firm suing HPV vaccine manufacturers—fees he only recently redirected to a family member.
The Imperative for Accountability and Trust
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s actions are not mere misstatements or policy disagreements. They are a direct, calculated assault on public health, driven by a pattern of anti-vaccine sentiment and a profound disregard for scientific consensus. Lies that demonstrably endanger the most fragile part of our population are not just irresponsible; they are unacceptable.
For parents, the ability to trust medical professionals and the vaccine system is not negotiable. It is the foundation upon which we make critical decisions for our children’s well-being. This needs to stop. We must demand immediate accountability from our public health leaders, ensuring that decisions are based on rigorous science, not ideology or personal agendas. The trust essential for protecting our children’s health must be restored and fiercely protected. Our children’s lives depend on it.
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