The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is meant to provide accurate and tested scientific data to the public. However, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK), the secretary of the HHS, is tearing down Americans’ trust in this department by promoting regulations that are mostly backed by conspiracies.

RFK is known to be anti-vaccine and promotes numerous other medical conspiracies. For example, during his confirmation hearing, RFK confirmed saying that COVID-19 was a “genetically engineered bio-weapon” and that Lyme disease was a “materially engineered bioweapon,” both of which have no evidence to support them. He is also the chairman and founder of the Children’s Health Defense (CHD), an activist non-profit organization that advocates for anti-vaccine legislation. The CHD still believes in disproved research that vaccines cause autism. His position as secretary allows him to take advantage of ignorant and anxious communities of people by feeding them misinformation.

He fired every member of the CDC vaccine advisory panel and replaced them with vaccine skeptics. Among them is Robert Malone, who frequently spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine on X. RFK also fired the Director of the CDC, Dr. Susan Monarez, after she refused to approve new vaccine recommendations that were being made without scientific evidence.

Without trusted scientists, RFK has no opposition for his new guidelines that will be full of misleading information, allowing his new regulations to go untested. The new members of the HHS align with his beliefs about vaccines, and they will agree with all of his policies. He often quotes scientific evidence and data that is either not real, misproven, sometimes even lying about the research to better support his decision. For example, after terminating $500 million of funding for the mRNA vaccine research, he justified his decision with a document he later released. The document was reviewed by many infectious disease experts, who highlighted that the document actually supported the opposite decision.

During the Sept. 18-19 Vaccine Advisory Panel, RFK passed many new regulations that differed greatly from previous administrations. The Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine is no longer given as one shot, but as multiple, which makes it more difficult to get the vaccines. This is particularly dangerous, since  according to Dr. Adam Ratner, measles cases this year has increased by 457% compared to the last 4 years. The CDC also enacted a policy that removed the COVID-19 vaccine from the recommendation schedule for children and pregnant women. Secretary Kennedy slashed funding for the development of mRNA vaccines, like COVID-19, and eliminated the policy that required doctors to report their vaccination status.

All of these changes starkly contrast previous information from the HHS when it was under different leadership. This sudden change is causing confusion in the American public. According to National Public Radio (NPR), many people are left wondering whether to believe these new recommendations since many Americans get their medical information from the various branches of the HHS.

The regulations of the HHS influence people’s medical decisions, as well as the recommendations they hear from doctors. Removing the COVID-19 vaccine from vaccine schedules makes it extremely difficult to get that shot, which can put fragile communities, like the elderly and immuno-compromised, in danger.

RFK also announced that taking Tylenol, or acetaminophen, when pregnant leads to a high probability of autism in the baby. Pregnant women use Tylenol to reduce pain and especially high fever. According to the NIH, high fever, particularly in the first trimester, can lead to birth defects in the baby. Tylenol is meant to help reduce fever, and therefore reduce the risk to the fetus. Since Tylenol has been proven by the Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD), as well as many others, to be the safest pain reliever to take while pregnant, expectant mothers are now confused. The BBC says that this announcement is leaving many mothers anxious that their Tylenol usage during pregnancy gave their children autism.

With RFK leading the HHS, medical conspiracy theories will become the basis for health regulations which will put American public health in danger.