Senator Angela Alsobrooks on Kennedy’s first year as health secretary: “His leadership was absolutely disastrous.”
Today marks the one year anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s inauguration as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the results of his tenure can be seen everywhere. A rapid spread of measles in South Carolina is approaching the 1,000-case mark.
The childhood vaccination schedule was reduced from 17 recommended childhood vaccinations to 11, despite strong objections from major medical organizations. Groundbreaking research projects were unceremoniously canceled, clinical trials were stopped and thousands of employees were removed from the country’s health authorities. The American Academy of Pediatrics has become a voice of resistance.
The resistance of a senator
Since the beginning of Kennedy’s term, Senator Angela Alsobrooks, a former prosecutor and chief executive of Prince George’s County, has made it her mission to remove him as health secretary. As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, abbreviated to the letters HELP, her arguments with him have gone viral.
The committee’s chairman, Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician and liver specialist, elicited promises from Kennedy to preserve the vaccine infrastructure and publicly wrestled with his conscience before casting the deciding vote for Kennedy’s nomination.
Whistleblowers and mass layoffs
This decision plunged Maryland’s newly elected junior senator into the whirlwind of events. The primary US federal biomedical research agency (NIH), based in Bethesda, employs people from its constituency. When scientists were fired, “her phone stopped ringing,” as she puts it, because agency whistleblowers called her office.
She was the first to file a resolution of censure against Kennedy in May, which only four of her colleagues signed. Since then, she and Sen. Ron Wyden have kept a running tally of what they called the “cost, chaos and corruption” of his leadership, released today in a 71-page report. She hopes this report will serve as a blueprint for repairing the damage once he leaves office.
The “Sick of It” campaign is growing
Twenty-eight senators have now co-signed the censure resolution, joining their “Sick of It” campaign based on the premise that his removal as Secretary of Health and Human Services is a matter of life and death for the American people.
A spokesman for Secretary Kennedy, Andrew Nixon, vehemently defended his leadership style, saying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, had “exercised its full authority to achieve results for the American people” and “addressed long-standing public health challenges with transparency, courage and scientific excellence.”
Citing measures such as investing in rural health care, lowering drug prices and eliminating petroleum-based dyes from the food supply, Nixon said, “HHS will continue this momentum through 2026 to strengthen accountability, put patients first and protect public health.”
The interview with ROLLING STONE
ROLLING STONE spoke with Alsobrooks about the motives for her involvement. Our discussion has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Kennedy has been health minister for a year now. Can you summarize how you think his leadership has impacted America?
His leadership has been absolutely disastrous and has almost single-handedly helped to destroy our country’s public health system and many of the advances we have made in research, science and medicine. America’s uniqueness truly rests on our capabilities in science, research and medicine. And what he did will affect our country in relation to ours [weltweites] really set your reputation back.
What led you to conclude early on that he was a threat to the health of Americans and to act on those concerns?
I came to a meeting with him very early. I was there to interview and meet a number of nominees. I said to him, since he was unqualified and had no background in research, science or medicine, “Do you intend to substitute your judgment for that of scientists and doctors who have been working in these fields for decades?” And he said without hesitation: “I will replace bad scientists with good scientists.” I knew then that we were really in big trouble. That’s how it all started.
Let me ask you about an encounter with him that went viral. In his hearing before the HELP Committee, in which he claimed that African Americans had different immune systems, you asked him pointedly, “Should someone like me get different vaccines?” And his answer made you say that his answer was very dangerous. What dangers did you see at that moment?
He grossly misrepresented a study that he said suggested African Americans should have a different vaccination schedule than others. Immediately after the hearing, the doctor who actually published the study spoke out and said that the minister’s statement was not supported by the study or science.
I have a daughter and I know that there are many young parents who need to rely on the information and advice from the Health Minister. Then when they hear such information from him, which is immediately refuted by the doctor who actually wrote this study?
It is my mission to make it clear to parents that they should not believe anything that comes from the leadership of his agency and that the misinformation he is spreading is very dangerous for them and their children’s health and they should rather check with their doctors and pediatricians.
So you’re saying he’s lying. Do you see him as someone who lies for ideological reasons, or as someone who is just confused about the science?
I think he definitely has an ideological agenda, and I think that agenda is that he is right in his theories. But I also believe that if you tell a lie often enough, you will eventually believe it yourself.
Do you think Senator Bill Cassidy regrets his vote and do you think voting for Kennedy was a violation of his Hippocratic Oath?
Senator Cassidy is a liver doctor and hepatitis vaccination is important to him. He offered his support, almost in a conditional way, based on the representations of Secretary Kennedy, who, as I said, really lied in that hearing. I think, [Kennedy] should be held accountable for what he did.
When you started your Sick of It campaign and tabled a no-confidence motion, you were the first to do so, and now you seem to have built support for it. Can you tell us a little about why you did that and what the situation is now?
When I originally tabled the motion of no confidence there was very little support for it. In fact, only four others co-signed. It came about as I observed all the chaos and unrest within these agencies. NIH officials told me they were rationing gloves.
Supplies were so low that they had to cut paper towels in half and ration bleach. The mass layoffs now total around 20,000 health authority employees, and those are just the numbers we have. We have been requesting additional data since the end of last year. We knew his decisions would make Americans sick.
With the measles outbreak in South Carolina showing no signs of abating, do you think there is a line we could cross as a nation that would cause Republicans to join your call for his resignation?
I think whatever it is, we’ve already crossed that line. We have a number of doctors on the health committee. I think they recognize the danger: the resurgence of measles, the kind of flu season we’ve just had, all these diseases that everyone knows we’ve been successful in containing. The health of our country is not a partisan issue.
Recently, Dr. Mehmet Oz urged Americans to get vaccinated against measles. Do you think this is a signal that the White House and others within HHS believe Kennedy has failed by not being more vocal about vaccinations?
I think they obviously don’t agree with the direction he’s taking with the agency. Asking people to get vaccinated is an admission that this is a problem that needs to be addressed. It also speaks to the urgency of the matter. That’s why it’s important for me and others to continue to sound the alarm and let parents know that they must not trust a single word from this man or his government and that they must speak to their health care providers. It’s a matter of life and death.
