Lawmakers seek answers from RFK on Gardasil shot settlement
Gage Skidmore via Flickr
Four Democratic senators are investigating whether the family of HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is profiting from what they assert are "bogus" vaccine lawsuits.
In particular, they want to know if the Kennedy family is benefiting from a $50 million settlement agreed by MSD earlier this year, in a lawsuit claiming harm from its human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil, that Kennedy's actions as HHS Secretary could have influenced.
In June, MSD – known as Merck & Co in the US and Canada – settled more than 200 individual product liability claims which asserted that Gardasil, used to protect against cervical cancer, had caused adverse effects, including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and premature ovarian insufficiency.
According to a letter (PDF) signed by US Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn), and Andy Kim (D-NJ), the settlement covers lawsuits for which Kennedy was listed as the attorney of record and cases represented by Wisner Baum, his former employer.
That potential conflict of interest was highlighted in Senate confirmation hearings in 2025, at which he initially refused a request to pledge not to receive any compensation from lawsuits against pharma companies as HHS Secretary and four years after his term. He was subsequently pressured into handing his stake in the lawsuits to his son, who is currently employed at Wisner Baum as an associate attorney.
Warren has previously asserted that Kennedy made $2.5 million in referral fees from Wisner Baum for bringing lawsuits against pharma companies, prior to his nomination, and was in line for 10% contingency fees if they won.
The Gardasil settlement "appears to reinforce a lucrative and dangerous playbook – litigators with ties to anti-vaccine organisations sue drug companies with scientifically dubious claims and undermine trust in vaccines and America's public health as a result," write the lawmakers in the letter.
They argue that Kennedy's role as HHS Secretary could influence public perception of Gardasil's safety and, in turn, the outcome of the lawsuits "by publishing unfounded anti-vaccine information, influencing Merck's interest in a settlement, or adding unproven injuries to the vaccine injury table."
Those concerns were compounded when Kennedy appointed new members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP) last year after firing all 17 of the panel's previous roster, including two who had served as expert witnesses in the Gardasil class action.
Their roles are currently blocked and inactive due to a federal court ruling, along with an attempt by the reconstituted ACIP to limit the number of doses of the HPV vaccine to one, rather than the FDA-approved two.
Diverting any fees to his son was branded a "loophole" by the senators, who maintain that the family stands to gain millions of dollars in settlement money that raises fresh conflict-of-interest concerns.
"The settlement – and the ongoing questions about whether you or your immediate family will benefit from it – raise further serious questions about any role HHS may have played in influencing the lawsuit's outcome," wrote the senators.
"You are charged with setting federal vaccine policy and regulating vaccine manufacturers, including Merck, even as your family and former employer may financially benefit from actions you take as Secretary."
Wisner Baum told Reuters that Kennedy or his son "at no time" will receive fees from a Gardasil settlement.
