NIH director, after Trump nominates RFK Jr. for HHS secretary, says discouraging vaccinations is ‘disturbing’

Discouraging Americans from being vaccinated is “very disturbing” and would result in “more severe illness and death in children,” a top U.S. health official told lawmakers Tuesday following President-elect Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

National Institutes of Health Director Monica Bertagnolli made the comments after Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., told her that she’s concerned “there’s been some talk by some who might have leadership positions in next administration of discouraging vaccination. 

“Could you tell me what would be the downside if our children specifically were not vaccinated?” Frankel asked Bertagnolli. 

“If you go back 100 years ago, the leading cause of death – and it was dramatic – was infectious disease. And why did that change? Vaccination, that is the single reason,” Bertagnolli told the House Appropriations Committee. 

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and National Institutes of Health Director Monica Bertagnolli (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/Jim Vondruska/Bloomberg)

“And it’s been even in my career, my lifetime that I have also seen individuals who unfortunately were in the womb when their mother got rubella – terrible congenital malformations that happened. So it’s not just the consequences even for the individual – it can be mother to child and then finally across society when we see the spread of infectious disease,” Bertagnolli continued. 

“What we will see immediately if all vaccination suddenly stops, we will see much more severe illness and death in children,” she also said. 

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Trump shake hands during a campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona, on Aug. 23, 2024. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images))

Kennedy rose to prominence as a skeptic of vaccines, voicing concerns about their impact. 

“Look around the world because there are other places in the world that have this, that do not have widespread vaccination of their populations, and look at the tragedies that we see there. I think it would be very disturbing,” Bertagnolli added Tuesday. 

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., has called the choice of RFK Jr. to lead HHS “f—— insane.” 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. waves to the crowd at a campaign rally for Trump in August in Glendale, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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“The RFK as Health Secretary appointment is f—— insane,” he wrote on X. “He’s a vaccine denier and a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist. He will destroy our public health infrastructure and our vaccine distribution systems. This is going to cost lives.” 

Kennedy aligned with Trump after ending his own independent run for president, and Trump added the promise “make America healthy again” to his campaign.

Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.