BUMBLING BERNIE: Sanders Demands RFK Jr.’s Resignation

Senator Bernie Sanders has called on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to step down, accusing him of spreading conspiracy theories, promoting vaccine skepticism, and pursuing health policies that Sanders says put millions of Americans at risk.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, is endangering the health of the American people now and into the future. He must resign,” Sanders, the Vermont independent who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece published Saturday.

Sanders highlighted a recent leadership shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as proof, in his view, of Kennedy’s disregard for science.

According to Sanders, Kennedy forced CDC Director Susan Monarez to step down less than a month into her role after she resisted his directives, leading to the resignations of four senior officials. One of them said Kennedy’s staff tried to pressure him to “change studies that have been settled in the past” to reflect Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda, Sanders added.

“This is not Making America Healthy Again,” Sanders said, directly referencing the Trump administration’s slogan.

Sanders contrasted Kennedy’s claims with the position of mainstream medicine.

“It is absurd to have to say this in 2025, but vaccines are safe and effective,” he wrote, pointing to the support of leading professional organizations.

He noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics has described immunizations as “one of the greatest public health achievements,” while the American Medical Association stated that vaccines for flu, RSV, and COVID-19 are “the best tools to protect the public against these illnesses.”

Sanders further cited the World Health Organization, which recently estimated that vaccines have prevented 154 million deaths over the past half-century and reduced infant mortality worldwide by 40 percent.

He sharply criticized Kennedy’s repeated claims that vaccines are dangerous, pointing to Kennedy’s suggestion that COVID-19 vaccines were the “deadliest ever made” and his claim that the polio vaccine killed more people than the illness itself. Sanders rejected these statements as “absurd.”

“Who supports Secretary Kennedy’s views? Not credible scientists and doctors,” Sanders said. Instead, he argued, Kennedy is backed mainly by activists from Children’s Health Defense — the anti-vaccine organization Kennedy created — along with a small group of close allies who have consistently spread misinformation.

Sanders warned that Kennedy’s influence is already making vaccines harder to access. He said the administration has pulled back COVID-19 vaccine availability, particularly for young and healthy people, creating higher costs and new barriers for families.

“This means more doctors’ visits, more bureaucracy, and more people paying higher out-of-pocket costs — if they can manage to get a vaccine at all,” Sanders wrote.

The senator also expressed fears that Kennedy could move to change the childhood vaccine schedule, which could reintroduce once-eradicated illnesses such as polio and measles. Sanders noted Kennedy’s decision to cancel nearly $500 million in vaccine research projects and reduce state-level funding for pandemic readiness as further alarming moves.

“Unfortunately, Secretary Kennedy’s actions are making a worrisome situation even worse,” Sanders said.

Sanders linked Kennedy’s policies to the broader health agenda of the Trump administration, which has proposed more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

He cautioned that such cuts would leave an estimated 15 million Americans uninsured, raise premiums for millions of others, and force nursing homes, hospitals, and community health centers to close or reduce services.

“Secretary Kennedy is putting Americans’ lives in danger, and he must resign,” Sanders concluded, calling on President Donald Trump to replace him with leaders who follow scientific expertise rather than advance conspiracy theories.