Discontent and Lack of Trust Swirls Around RFK Jr

By: Ranier Simons, ADAP Blog Guest Contributor

Public health affects all Americans, regardless of their political ideology, religious beliefs, or socioeconomic background. The vast majority of the public also lacks an extensive medical or scientific background. Thus, citizens look to established institutions and entities for guidance on best health practices as they go about their busy lives. Consequently, the instability caused by the current state of upheaval in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) is a public health hazard. The trust gap the average American has with RFK Jr. should not be trivialized, as it is having ripple effects throughout public discourse and the medical establishment.

Photo Source: STAT News

RFK Jr. has a very high-profile stance that many describe as being anti-vaccine. Although he does not hold a medical degree and has no prior experience as an environmental attorney, he has characterized the historically internationally respected CDC as a corrupt institution that has failed the American public (Soucheray, 2025). This sentiment is especially notable in his characterizations of COVID-19 vaccines and childhood vaccinations. Scientific data show that COVID-19 vaccinations worldwide prevented approximately 2.5 million deaths between December 2020 and October 2024 (John et al., 2025). Statistics such as this significantly damage his credibility.

A recent poll, conducted by The Economist and YouGov and surveying 1,691 adults, indicated that only one in four Americans trusts RFK Jr. with medical advice (Crisp, 2025). Approximately 51% of respondents stated they still trust CDC guidance, and 79% stated they trust the medical recommendations of their personal physicians (Crisp, 2025). Notably, 45% expressed disapproval of Kennedy’s job as HHS secretary.

Experienced career staff at HHS have also raised questions about RFK Jr.’s trustworthiness. A recent shooting at the CDC resulted in six CDC buildings sustaining damage and one police officer being killed (Fields, 2025). 

In response, on August 20th, over 750 current and former HHS staff members issued a letter addressed to HHS Secretary Kennedy and Congress asking him to stop spreading inaccurate health information. The letter expressed that, “The attack came amid growing mistrust in public institutions, driven by politicized rhetoric that has turned public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainization—and now, violence…Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is complicit in dismantling America’s public health infrastructure and endangering the nation’s health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information…”.

Photo Source: STAT News

On September 3rd, over 1000 current and former HHS staff released another letter asking him to resign. The public cannot foster trust in the head of HHS when internal members of HHS are calling for his resignation.

Even amidst the recent outbreak of measles, RFK Jr.'s stance on childhood vaccines is fostering conflicting messaging and confusion. Recently, Florida’s Surgeon General announced that the state would be the first to end all vaccine mandates, including those for schoolchildren (Kearney, 2025). For years, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have had laws requiring school children to be vaccinated against diseases such as polio and measles. Despite the Florida Surgeon General’s announcement, a recent survey conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) indicates 82% of Florida parents support public schools requiring vaccines for measles and polio, with some health and religious exemptions. Comparatively, 81% of parents nationwide also support school vaccine requirements.

In June of this year, HHS Secretary Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) (Stone, 2025). This committee helps develop vaccine policy and recommendations for the CDC. Kennedy stated that he removed all the members because he felt they all had conflicts of interest, as indicated in a government report (Huang, 2025). However, it has been documented that Kennedy’s interpretation of the report is inadequate, given that it is almost twenty years old, dating back to 2009. Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director from 2009 to 2017, publicly stated Kennedy was giving “a total misrepresentation of a 20-year-old report, about a process that was already being improved before that report was issued” (Huang, 2025). Secretary Kennedy subsequently replaced the old members with several individuals who had previously expressed anti-vaccine sentiments.

Out of grave concern for public health, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently published its own 2025 recommended schedule for child and adolescent immunization, which differs from the current CDC's ACIP (Gerlach, 2025). The AAP is outwardly challenging the current CDC guidelines, stating its recommendations are evidence-based. Susan J. Kressly, MD, AAP president, said in a statement, “The AAP will continue to provide recommendations for immunizations that are rooted in science and are in the best interest of the health of infants, children, and adolescents” (Gerlach, 2025). She added, “Pediatricians know how important routine childhood immunizations are in keeping children, families, and their communities healthy and thriving” (Gerlach, 2025). Among the significant divergences from CDC ACIP guidance, the AAP recommends universal COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 6 to 23 months and risk-based immunization for children aged 2 to 18 years, such as those who are medically vulnerable or living with high-risk individuals (Gerlach, 2025).

Photo Source: ABC30

Some Democrat-led states are also pushing back against the current CDC ACIP advisories. Massachusetts recently became the first state to issue its own vaccine rules. Governor Maura Healey announced that health insurers doing business in Massachusetts will be required to cover vaccines recommended by the state health department, regardless of whether the CDC recommends them or not. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans support the policy (Goldman, 2025 Sept.4) California, Oregon and Washington have formed what is being called the West Coast Health Alliance to issue their own vaccine recommendations to battle the politicization of the CDC (Goldman, 2025 Sept.3). New Mexico recently through its health department issued and order that all its residents can obtain COVID-19 vaccinations even though Kennedy announced they should be restricted to high-risk patients (Goldman, 2025, September 5).

Just this week, PlusInc – an organization promoting health equity – issued a strongly worded rebuke of RFK Jr's assertion that there is a definitive link between Tylenol and autism. The statement, in part, reads: "Monday’s disorganized pronouncement was made with either complete unawareness or discounting of findings from a study published just last year in JAMA Network that found no link between the use of acetaminophen and children’s risk of autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or any intellectual disabilities."

Distrust in RFK Jr’s leadership is adversely disruptive to public health and problematic for the evidence-based established infrastructure of medical science. Moreover, since states have the legal latitude to create their own health policies and guidance, the result could lead to a patchwork quilt of public health protections that vary from state to state. The public will ultimately be left with apprehension regarding health decisions, and states may face retaliatory funding responses from the federal government. The trust gap between RFK Jr. and the American public is not merely an issue of political theater, but a threat to the lives of citizens.

[1] Crisp, E. (2025, September 3). 1 in 4 Americans trust RFK Jr. with medical advice. Retrieved from https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5484579-kennedy-poll-medical-advice/

[2] Fields, A. (2025, August 12). 500 shots fired in CDC attack in Atlanta. Retrieved from https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5447797-gunman-cdc-headquarters/

[3] Gerlach, A. (2025, August 21). American Academy of Pediatrics Releases 2025 Child, Adolescent Immunization Recommendations. Retrieved from https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/american-academy-of-pediatrics-releases-2025-child-adolescent-immunization-recommendations

[4] Goldman, M. (2025, September 4). Massachusetts becomes first state to impose its own vaccine coverage rules. Retrieved from https://www.axios.com/2025/09/04/massachusetts-vaccine-coverage-rules

[5] Goldman, M. (2025, September 3). 3 western states form vaccine alliance to counter feds. Retrieved from https://www.axios.com/2025/09/03/cdc-vaccine-washington-california-oregon-guidelines-recommendations

[6] Goldman, M. (2025, September 5). Blue states eye rival health rules to defy RFK Jr.. Retrieved from https://www.axios.com/2025/09/05/rfk-vaccine-rule-states-democrats-vaccine-rules

[7] Huang, P. (2025, March 11). RFK says most vaccine advisers have conflicts of interest. A report shows they don't. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/11/nx-s1-5323771/rfk-jr-vaccine-advisers-conflicts-interest

[8] John, Pezzullo, A. M., Cristiano, A., & Boccia, S. (2025). Global Estimates of Lives and Life-Years Saved by COVID-19 Vaccination During 2020-2024. JAMA Health Forum, 6(7), e252223–e252223. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.2223

[9] Kearney, A. (2025, September 4). Most Parents Nationally and in Florida Want Schools to Require Vaccines. Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/quick-take/most-parents-nationally-and-in-florida-want-schools-to-require-vaccines/

[10] Soucheray, S. (2025, September 4). In heated Senate committee meeting, RFK Jr says fired CDC chief lied about ouster. Retrieved from https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/anti-science/heated-senate-committee-meeting-rfk-jr-says-fired-cdc-chief-lied-about-ouster#:~:text=During%20the%203%2Dhour%20meeting,see%20today's%20CIDRAP%20News%20story).

[11] Stone, W. (2025, June 9). RFK Jr. boots all members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/06/09/nx-s1-5428533/rfk-jr-vaccine-advisory-committee-acip#:~:text=boots%20all%20members%20of%20the%20CDC's%20vaccine%20advisory%20committee,-Listen%C2%B7%203:25&text=Secretary%20of%20Health%20Robert%20F,issue%20statements%20denouncing%20the%20move

Disclaimer: Guest blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of the ADAP Advocacy Association, but rather they provide a neutral platform whereby the author serves to promote open, honest discussion about public health-related issues and updates.   

Amid COVID-19, Misinformation and Disinformation Target HIV

By: Ranier Simons, ADAP Blog Guest Contributor

One of the most dangerous forms of misinformation and disinformation is public health. Misinformation is defined as inaccurate or false information spread among large groups of people as fact. Misinformation is believed to be accurate and based on unsubstantiated rumors, misguided anecdotal evidence, misinterpretation of fact, and even bias stemming from universally shared cultural beliefs. Disinformation is deliberately targeted malicious misinformation propagated to deceive people into believing something for financial profit, political gain, or even malevolent ideological destabilization of evidence-based foundational norms. HIV isn't immune from either one.

Photo Source: Stanford Medicine

Medical misinformation has dire consequences. It can be a matter of life and death. It maintains confusion, mistrust of fundamental science and undermines public health efforts. People who believe in medical misinformation and disinformation lose their power to make decisions in the best interests of their health. As a result, they turn down well-established life-saving treatments, engage in harmful or potentially deadly treatments, and exacerbate conditions that would typically benefit from early intervention by delaying proper treatment.

A plethora of medical misinformation and disinformation continues to circulate regarding HIV and COVID-19. Recently circulating is a false causal claim linking HIV and COVID-19 vaccines. Conservative commentators such as Hal Turner, a right-wing radio host, claim that there has been a 500% increase in military new HIV infections due to COVID-19 vaccines being instituted.[1] 

In an effort to combat this misinformation, The Associated Press published data fact-checking the false claim. According to the U.S Department of Defense and the Congressional Research Service, 1,581 service members, including the National Guard and Reserves, have been diagnosed with HIV infections since 2017.[1] Approximately 317 service members were diagnosed with HIV in 2017; 280 in 2018; 314 in 2019; 237 in 2020; 309 in 2021; and 124 in 2022.[1] 

There were 72 more cases of HIV diagnosed in 2021 compared to  December 2020, when COVID-19 vaccines became available to the public.[1] That was only a 30% increase, not 500%. Moreover, in 2022 when the vaccines had been widely adopted, there were 185 fewer diagnosed HIV cases. That was a 60% drop from 2021.[1] Right-wing conservative media reported numbers they claimed came from leaked data from DMED, the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database. DMED is an internal database accessible only by military medical personnel. 

The Associated Press reported that the Defense Health Agency’s Armed Forces Surveillance Division explained there had been data corruption which resulted in the appearance of a significantly increased occurrence of all medical diagnoses in 2021 because of the under-reported data for 2016-2020. The cause of the corruption was identified, and the database was made whole. No evidence exists that COVID-19 vaccines have caused HIV or other immune deficiencies. Conservative right-wing media has also linked COVID-19 vaccinations to a non-existent fabricated condition called VAIDS, vaccine-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, in an attempt to shed doubt upon factual COVID-19 vaccine data.

Other disinformation campaigns from conservative sources regarding COVID-19 were the Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine treatment fallacies. Former President Donald Trump also explicitly promoted both. In a November 2020, Journal of Medical Internet Research study, researchers quantified the potency of his misinformation. For example, their Twitter analysis found that his first tweet on March 21, 2020, promoting hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, had 385,700 likes and 103,000 retweets. This equates to an estimated impression reach, or user views,  of 78,800,580.[2]

America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLD), a scam group of right-wing physicians, also perpetuated misinformation and profited from it. AFLD used telemedicine scams to make a profit promising telemedicine appointments for people who wanted to be prescribed Ivermectin for COVID-19.[7] Patients were charged for virtual visits whether they received them or not. They are also billed hundreds of dollars for Ivermectin and Hydrochloroquine prescriptions filled by third-party mail-order vendors. AFLD was created by the Council For National Policy, a clandestine network of conservative activists.[7] TIME Magazine found no proof that any physicians involved had expertise in directly caring for COVID-19 patients.

Photo Source: The University of Chicago Medicine

An Ohio State study found that conservatives are more susceptible to believing false information than liberals.[3] Overall, liberals and conservatives tend to believe claims that support their views. Additionally, both liberals and conservatives are able to adequately distinguish between falsehood and truth when the truth is presented as politically neutral. Neutral means that the factual truth does not overwhelmingly support the political views of either side. However, researchers found that liberals are much better at distinguishing falsehoods from truths that support liberal ideology. Conservatives in the study were significantly biased toward false information that supported a conservative political agenda, even when the claims were deemed outlandish and starkly in contrast to evidence-based facts. Researchers also explained that the odds were stacked against conservatives being able to distinguish fact from fiction because there is a much higher volume of right-leaning misinformation in the American media and information environment.[3]

The most effective way to combat medical misinformation and disinformation is to be just as proactive about promoting factual and truthful information. In an effort to battle misinformation, the U.S. Surgeon General. Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, issued a 22-page advisory in 2021.[4] The advisory details specific ways the media, health professionals, the public, and even technology platforms can effectively take action. Regarding the media, YouTube has partnered with providers and organizations like the Mayo Clinic, the American Public Health Association, and Mass General Brigham to create evidence-based content and highlight videos from high-quality sources when people search for health subjects using Google.[5,6] 

At the grassroots community level, educational outreach must extend to people face-to-face, especially in access-challenged marginalized communities and populations. The best way to see how people live, what information they consume, and what messages are pervasive in their social circles is to go to them directly. Misinformation and disinformation will not end. It is imperative that the energy behind the truth is just as aggressive as the energy behind the falsehoods.

[1] Tulp, S. (2023, March 8). No, the military hasn’t recorded a 500% increase in HIV cases. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-ap-check-619347436728

[2] Niburski, K., & Niburski, O. (2020). Impact of Trump's Promotion of Unproven COVID-19 Treatments and Subsequent Internet Trends: Observational Study. Journal of medical Internet research, 22(11), e20044. https://doi.org/10.2196/20044

[3] Grabmeier, J. (2021, June 2). Conservatives more susceptible to believing falsehoods. Retrieved from https://news.osu.edu/conservatives-more-susceptible-to-believing-falsehoods/

[4] Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. (2021). Confronting Health Misinformation. Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/health-misinformation/index.html

[5] Landi,H. (2021, July 20). YouTube partners with Mass General on health content amid misinformation backlash. Retrieved from https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/youtube-partners-mass-general-health-content-amid-misinformation-backlash

[6] Vaidya, A. (2021, January 14). YouTube teams up with providers, healthcare groups to combat health misinformation. Retrieved from https://medcitynews.com/2021/01/youtube-teams-up-with-providers-healthcare-groups-to-combat-health-misinformation/

[7] Bergengruen, V. (2021, August 26). How 'America's Frontline Doctors' Sold Access to Bogus COVID-19 Treatments—and Left Patients in the Lurch. Retrieved from https://time.com/6092368/americas-frontline-doctors-covid-19-misinformation/

Disclaimer: Guest blogs do not necessarily reflect the views of the ADAP Advocacy Association, but rather they provide a neutral platform whereby the author serves to promote open, honest discussion about public health-related issues and updates.