RFK cousin delivers broadside ahead of confirmation hearing

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Caroline Kennedy

Caroline Kennedy's official portrait as US Ambassador to Australia.

The cousin of Robert F Kennedy Jr – President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – has sent a damning letter to senators on the eve of his confirmation hearing.

Caroline Kennedy claims in the letter that RFK Jr is unqualified to lead the department in charge of the FDA, CDC, and NIH – which has a $1.7 trillion budget – as he "lacks any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience" and holds views on vaccines that are "dangerous and wilfully misinformed."

The former US Ambassador to Australia also delivers a damning assessment of RFK Jr's character, calling him a "predator" who kept birds of prey and "enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice into a blender to feed his hawks."

She also claims that he is addicted to "attention and power" and – while overcoming his own well-documented problems with heroin abuse – influenced other members of the Kennedy family "down the path of drug addiction."

The letter also alleges that RFK Jr discouraged parents from vaccinating their children to build a following while actually vaccinating his own children, and that his "constant denigration of our healthcare system and the conspiratorial half-truths he has told about vaccines […] have cost lives."

That stark appraisal isn't the only attack on RFK Jr delivered by members of his own family. His niece Kerry Kennedy-Meltzer, who is a doctor working at NYC Health + Hospitals, has shared a host of emails with STAT News, that show him making false claims about COVID-19 vaccines, expounding the discredited idea that childhood immunisation can cause autism, and doubting the value of flu shots.

RFK Jr is scheduled to appear in front of the Senate Finance Committee later today, no doubt to guarantee that the new revelations will be front and centre in the minds of lawmakers attending the hearing.

In recent weeks, he has attempted to downplay his vaccine scepticism, saying he is in favour of polio vaccines, for example, and denying that he has any plans to ban immunisation programmes. In the past, he has claimed that polio vaccines killed more people than the virus itself.

Earlier this month, senior Democrat and Finance Committee member Elizabeth Warren sent a letter (PDF) to RFK Jr asking dozens of questions on a wide range of subjects, including vaccines, reproductive rights, conspiracy theories, the roles of the FDA, CDC, and NIH, and drug pricing.

In it, she referred to his "dangerous views on vaccine safety and public health," adding: "I have serious concerns regarding your ability to oversee the Department."