Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, faces a storm of criticism from nearly every corner—Congress, the medical establishment, and now, his own family. In a saga that’s unfolded rapidly since late August 2025, the Kennedy name, once synonymous with American public service, has become the epicenter of a bruising public health controversy.
The trouble began on August 27, 2025, when Kennedy’s department abruptly fired Dr. Susan Monarez, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), less than a month after her narrow Senate confirmation. According to Newsweek and other outlets, Monarez’s ouster was reportedly due to her resistance to Kennedy’s increasingly unorthodox demands—chief among them, the endorsement of unscientific vaccine recommendations and the dismissal of CDC staffers who disagreed with his views.
The fallout was immediate and dramatic. Within hours, four of the CDC’s top officials—Debra Houry, Demetre Daskalakis, Daniel Jernigan, and Jennifer Layden—resigned in protest. Their departures marked a flashpoint in what would become a broader crisis of confidence in the nation’s public health leadership. As Newsweek reported, more than 1,000 current and former Health and Human Services (HHS) employees, joined by major public health organizations like the American Public Health Association, publicly expressed alarm over the department’s direction and staffing decisions. An open letter, initially released on August 20, exploded in signatories after Monarez’s firing, calling for Kennedy’s resignation or for Congress and President Donald Trump to appoint a new secretary.
Dr. Monarez herself did not go quietly. In a pointed op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, she wrote, “I was confronted with another challenge—pressure to compromise science itself. Reporters have focused on the Aug. 25 meeting where my boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pressured me to resign or face termination. But that meeting revealed that it wasn’t about one person or my job. It was one of the more public aspects of a deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections.”
The controversy reached a fever pitch on September 4, 2025, when Kennedy appeared before the Senate Finance Committee. The hearing, described by The New Republic as a “train-wreck,” saw Kennedy grilled for three hours by senators from both parties. He was criticized for his anti-vaccine agenda, mismanagement of the CDC, and the exodus of top agency officials. Republican Senators John Barrasso, Bill Cassidy, and Thom Tillis—who had all voted to confirm Kennedy earlier that year—openly questioned his leadership. Senator Tillis remarked, “I do also believe that some of your statements seem to contradict what you said in the prior hearing. You said you’re going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their job—I’d just like to see evidence where you’ve done that.”
Senator Cassidy pressed Kennedy on his seemingly contradictory positions regarding vaccines and Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s COVID-19 vaccine initiative. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who also supported Kennedy’s confirmation, expressed visible frustration, stating, “Honestly, he’s got to take responsibility. We confirm these people, we go through a lot of work to get them confirmed, and they’re in office a month?”
But the most blistering rebukes have come not from political adversaries, but from Kennedy’s own family. On September 5, Joe Kennedy III, former U.S. congressman and RFK Jr.’s nephew, took to social media with a statement that left little room for ambiguity: “Robert Kennedy Jr. is a threat to the health and wellbeing of every American. A United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is tasked with protecting the public health of our country and its people. At yesterday’s hearing, he chose to do the opposite: to dismiss science, mislead the public, sideline experts and sow confusion. None of us will be spared the pain he is inflicting. It doesn’t matter how rich or powerful you are or what state you live in—the heartbreak of watching a loved one fall ill knows no borders. The challenges before us—from disease outbreaks to mental health crises—demand moral clarity, scientific expertise, and leadership rooted in fact. Those values are not present in the Secretary’s office. He must resign.”
Kerry Kennedy, President of RFK Human Rights and Kennedy’s sister, echoed the call for his resignation, emphasizing the life-saving power of vaccines and the dangers of undermining scientific institutions: “The first smallpox vaccine was developed in 1796. Since then, countless vaccines have been developed and saved millions of lives. Vaccines work. This is not up for debate. Medical decisions belong in the hands of trained and licensed professionals, not incompetent and misguided leadership. The decimation of critical institutions, like the NIH and the CDC, will lead to the loss of innocent lives. This means that children, mothers, fathers, and those you love are at risk now, like never before. I stand with the many courageous individuals in the medical and scientific communities who have had to set aside their vital work to speak truth to power to keep the public safe. Enough is enough. Secretary Kennedy must resign. Now.”
Family opposition is nothing new for Kennedy. Back in January, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy and former U.S. ambassador, publicly opposed her cousin’s nomination, calling him “dangerous” and “unqualified.” Her son, Jack Schlossberg, joined the chorus on social media during and after the Senate hearing, labeling his uncle “a threat to public health and American scientific leadership.”
The broader public appears equally skeptical. An Economist/YouGov poll released in early September 2025 found Kennedy’s approval rating at just 37 percent, with only 26 percent of respondents saying they would trust his medical advice. A CBS News poll showed that 74 percent of Americans want government health agencies to make vaccines more available, while 39 percent believe Kennedy is making them less accessible. These numbers reflect a significant erosion of trust in the nation’s top public health official.
Amidst all this, Kennedy’s own positions have raised eyebrows. During his confirmation hearing, he admitted that all six of his children are vaccinated—an admission that stands in stark contrast to his public rhetoric and policy actions.
The response from lawmakers has been mixed, with some, like Republican Congressman Clay Higgins, defending Kennedy and accusing critics of shilling for “big pharma.” Others, like Democratic Senators Chris Murphy and Patty Murray, have lambasted Kennedy’s leadership. Murphy tweeted, “It’s like we’re living a nightmare. We have conspiracy wackos running our nation’s most important health agencies. And people are going to die. This shouldn’t be another left/right, red/blue issue. RFK Jr. has to go.” Murray was even more pointed: “We need a Secretary of Health and Human Services. Not a Secretary of Conspiracies. Not a Secretary of Measles and Food Poisoning. Not a Secretary of Cancelled Research and Chemtrail Nonsense. RFK Jr. is burning down our public health system from the inside. Fire him.”
As the calls for Kennedy’s resignation grow louder, it remains to be seen whether the White House or Congress will act. For now, the nation’s public health apparatus remains in a state of upheaval, and the Kennedy family’s once-united front has fractured in the most public way imaginable.
History may judge this moment as a turning point for both the Kennedy dynasty and America’s approach to science-driven health policy. The stakes, as nearly everyone involved has made clear, couldn’t be higher.
