RFK Jr. returns to Children's Health Defense conference, questions vaccine safety

Sep 17, 2026

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a keynote address at a Children's Health Defense conference on September 17, 2026, signaling that the Trump administration remains committed to questioning vaccine safety. Kennedy linked routine childhood vaccines to chronic illnesses and claimed they lack safety testing, drawing sharp refutations from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The speech comes amid a spreading measles outbreak in Pennsylvania and major administrative policy shifts, including an August 2026 executive order to split the MMR vaccine.

Children's Health Defense conference keynote

▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. co-founded the anti-vaccine nonprofit Children's Health Defense and led the organization from 2015 to 2023
▪Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a keynote address at a Children's Health Defense conference in Washington, D.C., on September 17, 2026
▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assured the Children's Health Defense conference attendees that they have a "strong and steadfast friend at the White House" in President Donald Trump

Vaccine safety questioning claims

▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that the Department of Health and Human Services is researching more than 150 reported vaccine adverse events to determine if they are linked to specific vaccines
▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested that childhood vaccines are underpinning an epidemic of chronic illness in the United States, linking them to conditions like diabetes, asthma, and sudden infant death syndrome
▪The American Academy of Pediatrics states that childhood vaccines undergo multiple phases of clinical trials, including randomized clinical trials with placebo or comparison groups, to ensure safety and efficacy
▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that only the COVID-19 vaccine was subjected to a randomized controlled trial and that other childhood vaccines had no safety studies
▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System as broken and stated that the Department of Health and Human Services is working to make it more user-friendly

Childhood vaccine schedule criticism

▪The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that a child receiving all recommended vaccines before age 18 receives approximately 33 doses of 18 or 19 vaccines
▪Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized the childhood immunization schedule, noting that the number of doses has increased from three vaccines during his childhood to 94 doses of 28 vaccines

Trump administration policy changes

▪President Donald Trump signed an executive order in August 2026 calling for fewer childhood vaccinations, splitting the measles, mumps, and rubella shot into three separate doses
▪The Trump administration ended the universal newborn vaccination policy for hepatitis B in 2025