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Top allies and associates of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, forcefully spoke out against vaccines during a weekend summit in Austin, Texas. The conference, hosted by Children’s Health Defense — an anti-vaccine non-profit co-founded by Kennedy — was attended by around 1,000 people, including two U.S. senators, Florida’s top health official and Cheryl Hines, Kennedy’s wife. Over the course of two days, speakers sought to map out the future of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, including by pushing to eliminate vaccine mandates in schools through a targeted state-by-state effort. “God is an anti-vaxxer, and he needs you to speak up,” Del Bigtree, CEO of Informed Consent Action Network, who served as Kennedy’s communications director during his 2024 presidential campaign, said, according to The Washington Post. The high-profile gathering comes as the anti-vaccine movement, once marginalized, has found new influence in Washington, with Kennedy — a long-time vaccine skeptic — now overseeing America’s vast health care bureaucracy. GOP Sens. Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, and Rand Paul, of Kentucky, addressed the audience remotely, though they were initially scheduled to attend in person, alongside the HHS secretary. Kennedy also did not attend the event. “There are doctors recommending injecting little babies,” Johnson said, according to The Post. “They don’t want to admit something they’ve done caused autism.” The supposed link between vaccines and autism has previously been brought up by Kennedy — though multiple studies have shown they are not related. The former environmental lawyer has also expressed broader concerns about vaccines. He’s claimed immunizations have “poisoned an entire generation of American children,” and suggested they could be responsible for a whole host of ailments, including allergies, eczema and ADHD. As head of HHS, Kennedy has cut the organization's workforce and fired all members of a vaccine advisory board, accusing them of acting as “a rubber stamp for any vaccine.” HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Kennedy said he is not anti-vaccine, just pro-vaccine safety, The Independent previously reported. Mary Holland, the CEO of Children’s Health Defense, echoed this sentiment, telling The Post that “CHD is not anti-vax. We’re pro-informed consent.” This view was not shared by all conference attendees, though. “I’ve come to this anti-vax conference with a message: that we need to be more boldly anti-vax,” Mark Gorton, the co-president of the MAHA Institute think tank, said. He added that the childhood vaccination regimen should be eliminated. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, who announced in September that the Sunshine State would be the first state to eliminate school vaccine mandates, also addressed the audience. “God had me go to Harvard Medical School so I could eventually come out on the other side and say what I think is right,” he said. Lapado denounced members of the media, saying, “I saw reporters from The Washington Post and the Atlantic that represent these forces that — I have nothing against them, to be clear — they represent forces who are working toward the enslavement of humanity.” Hines, an actress known for her role in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Kennedy’s third wife, told The Post, “I really support what MAHA is doing and CHD has been bushwhacking the path for a while now.” “CHD has been such supporters of families of parents with children that have been injured with vaccines or any sort of health issue,” Hines added, according to MSNBC. “Thank you for supporting CHD and Bobby for all these years.” Recent polls show that the views espoused at the Texas conference are far from atypical. In fact, they are held by a sizable swath of Americans — despite medical experts maintaining that the benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks. A September Washington Post/KFF poll found that one in six parents have skipped or delayed some vaccines for their children. An April YouGov poll revealed that one in five Americans believe it’s definitely or likely true that vaccines have been demonstrated to cause autism. Amid rising skepticism about vaccines, the U.S. is experiencing its largest measles outbreak in over 30 years, according to the CDC’s July report. As of Nov. 4, there were 1,681 confirmed measles cases across more than two dozen states.
