RFK Jr.: HHS moves to restore public trust in vaccines

Perceived attack on public health and vaccines

• Many see firing the entire CDC vaccine advisory committee as a direct blow to evidence‑based vaccine policy, driven by an anti‑vaccine HHS leadership.
• Commenters fear more difficult approvals for new and updated vaccines, including cancer vaccines, and foresee Americans traveling abroad for routine shots.
• Several predict preventable child deaths and a return of diseases that had become invisible due to past vaccine success (HIB, measles, polio).

RFK Jr.’s motives, beliefs, and credibility

• A dominant view is that “conflict of interest” rhetoric is a smokescreen for a fundamentally anti‑vaccine agenda.
• People cite his past claims that no vaccine is truly safe/effective, his flirtation with miasma‑style thinking, and promotion of lifestyle and “toxins” over germ theory.
• Others argue his lifestyle‑and‑environment focus has some merit but shouldn’t come at the expense of vaccines.
• There is anger that he reportedly promised Congress not to do this kind of purge, seen as further evidence of dishonesty.

Legality and institutional design

• Debate over whether the HHS secretary has clear authority to remove fixed‑term committee members en masse; some expect lawsuits over improper dismissals.
• Others note the committee is under HHS control, terms are routinely refilled, and the prior administration also pre‑stacked it, so this is power politics, not obviously illegal.

COVID vaccines, mandates, and collapsing trust

• One large subthread claims mishandled COVID messaging and mandates (mask reversals, “you won’t spread it if vaccinated,” censorship) did more to fuel anti‑vax sentiment than RFK Jr. ever could.
• Others respond that changing guidance with new evidence is not “lying,” that vaccines were highly beneficial even if imperfect, and that anti‑vax conspiracies long predated COVID.
• There is unresolved conflict over whether officials “lied” versus made evolving, sometimes overconfident, statements under pressure.

Anecdotes and risk perception

• Some recount serious personal or family harms from infections preventable by vaccines (e.g., HIB in an un‑vaccinated adult, dysentery) and see anti‑vax politics as deadly.
• Others describe long‑lasting symptoms after COVID vaccination and insist they’re not anti‑vax but anti‑“being the test bed,” especially for rapidly rolled‑out products.

Polarization, social media, and disinformation

• Multiple comments frame this as part of a wider coordinated or emergent attack on US institutions, with social media algorithms amplifying tribalism.
• Russia and other foreign actors are mentioned as accelerants, but several emphasize that human nature and domestic politics supply most of the fuel.

Democracy, authoritarian drift, and blame

• Some argue this is less about vaccines than about consolidating loyalists and gutting independent expertise across government, with historical analogies to authoritarian takeovers.
• Venture capitalists, media ecosystems, and specific tech elites are blamed for helping elect the current administration. Others stress that ordinary voters ultimately chose it.