RFK Jr. Petitioned the FDA to Stop COVID Vaccinations

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought to have the authorization for COVID vaccines yanked six months after they had been released, the New York Times reports. Kennedy—President-elect Trump's health secretary nominee—filed a citizen petition to that end with the FDA in May 2021 on behalf of his Children's Health Defense nonprofit. The petition asked the FDA to "revoke Emergency Use Authorizations for existing COVID vaccines and refrain from approving and licensing them" in the future, reports ABC News.

The petition argued that the vaccines' benefits were dwarfed by their risks, and that they weren't needed because effective COVID treatments, including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, were available; the Times notes the latter medication had already been established as ineffective.

• From the FDA's denial: The "FDA is not aware of any information indicating that the known and potential benefits of the authorized COVID-19 Vaccines are outweighed by their known and potential risks, nor has Petitioner provided any such information in the Petition," it wrote in a response three months later.
• The Times weighs in: "The petition received little notice when it was filed. Mr. Kennedy was then on the fringes of the public health establishment, and the agency denied it within months. Public health experts told about the filing said it was shocking."

(CBS News notes Kennedy's confirmation hearing has yet to be scheduled.)