RFK Jr. was called out repeatedly for his lies and misinformation surrounding vaccines during his testimony to the Senate Finance Committee hearing yesterday. RFK Jr. refused to answer basic questions about vaccine efficacy and safety, and doubled down on previous false claims that vaccines lead to autism and deaths.
The hearing came months after RFK Jr.’s MAHA report flopped upon publication after the conspiracy-inspired document was exposed for stretching the limits of science, misinterpreting scientific findings, and completely making up citations for scientific studies that don’t exist.
Further analysis done by American Bridge 21st Century showed the MAHA report, in an apparent effort to cast doubt on the safety of vaccines, misrepresented several sources it cited.
The report cited a white paper by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that said the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) system was among the “nation’s best resources” to study vaccine safety. However, the MAHA report misleadingly said the CDC has “noted that VSD studies are likely prone to confounders and bias.”
The MAHA report also cited a 2010 Harvard Pilgrim Health Care report that RFK Jr. has repeatedly misrepresented, claiming it concluded that vaccine safety was inadequately studied because the data “relies on passive reporting” of “vaccine reactions.” In reality, the report claimed that fewer than 1% of vaccine adverse events, which included coincidental conditions unrelated to vaccines, were reported.
The MAHA report, citing a 2023 paper, said the “understanding of vaccine safety and any links to chronic disease would benefit from more rigorous clinical trial designs, including the use of true placebos.” The 2023 paper actually suggests that vaccines be tested against placebos only when there are no existing approved vaccines, as endorsed by a World Health Organization expert panel.
“RFK Jr. either didn’t read the sources he’s citing—the ones that weren’t fabricated, that is—or he’s hoping the rest of us won’t. Either way, it’s reckless—and exactly what we’ve come to expect from someone who’s made a career out of misinformation,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Brandon Weathersby. “Misleading the public with lies about scientific studies to justify fringe conspiracies isn’t leadership, it’s dangerous, harmful, and the exact opposite of what was sold to voters about improving public health. Americans deserve public health policy rooted in reality, not Reddit threads.”
So far, RFK Jr.’s tenure as Health and Human Services Secretary has been an absolute failure.
RFK Jr. has stacked the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the group that helps set national vaccine policy, with anti-vaccine activists who peddle conspiracy theories instead of science. At the same time, he’s fired the CDC director for refusing to rubber-stamp the recommendations of the vaccine advisory panel without scientific evidence to justify them.
Bird flu spread rapidly on farms across the country, with one of the largest egg-producing farms in the country announcing this summer that it lost 95% of its entire flock due to bird flu. RFK Jr. seems uninterested in controlling the spread and canceled the agency’s contract with Moderna to develop a vaccine.
Measles cases continue to climb under RFK Jr.’s leadership, reaching over 1,400 confirmed infections in 41 states. It’s the highest case count in 25 years, according to CDC data.
Published: Sep 5, 2025 | Last Modified: Sep 16, 2025