Secretary of Health and Human Services
Sworn in as the 26th Secretary of Health and Human Services on February 13, 2025. Dismissed over 1,000 scientists, doctors, and public health officials from HHS and slashed more than $4.5 billion in NIH funding, terminating and freezing thousands of research positions. Instructed HHS to stop recommending the combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine for children under age 4, contradicting scientific consensus. Under his tenure the U.S. recorded over 2,400 measles cases with at least 3 deaths — the highest since 1991 — placing the country on the verge of losing its measles-free elimination status. Oversaw the collapse of FDA food safety inspections and the gutting of CDC disease surveillance capacity. A long-time anti-vaccine activist prior to his appointment, Kennedy told Congress that people should not take medical advice from him.
Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation
RFK Jr.'s dismantlement of federal health agencies during an active measles crisis — including firing vaccine advisors, cutting thousands of positions, and clawing back billions — coincided with the worst measles outbreak in 30+ years, which began in January 2025 before his confirmation, and degraded the federal response while America's measles-elimination status is threatened.
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
Mass layoffs at the FDA driven by the Department of Government Efficiency eliminated over 3,500 staff in 2025, causing foreign food safety inspections to drop by nearly half, outbreak investigations to go unsolved at record rates, and critical programs like avian influenza testing to be halted.
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
The US left the WHO on January 22, 2026 without paying what it owed for 2024 and 2025, about $260–270 million according to the WHO and the UN. The 1948 joint resolution that authorized US membership makes the right to withdraw conditional on meeting US financial obligations for the WHO's current fiscal year. HHS says the US is under no obligation to pay.