Health and human services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he was unaware that his agency is trying to rescind more than $11 billion from state and local health departments.
“No I’m not familiar with those cuts. We’d have to go … the cuts were mainly DEI cuts, which the president ordered,” Kennedy said in an interview with CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, parts of which aired Wednesday.
The Department of Health and Human Services last month canceled tens of billions of dollars in federal grants that state and local health departments were using to track infectious diseases, health disparities, vaccinations, mental health services and other health issues.
HHS said the grants, totaling $11.4 billion, were primarily used for COVID-19 response, including testing, vaccination and hiring community health workers.
State and local officials said the move will make it even harder for them to continue to fight infectious disease outbreaks, fund substance use disorder support programs and address other concerns.
Leaders said the money was already in their hands, and they were using it for much more than just COVID response, including responding to the measles outbreak in Texas.
The funding cuts were temporarily paused last week following a lawsuit by Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia.
LaPook asked if Kennedy was aware that his agency had eliminated a $750,000 grant to the University of Michigan focused on adolescent diabetes.
Kennedy said he wasn’t, but said the agency has been fixing mistakes.
“There’s a number of studies that were cut that came to our attention and that did not deserve to be cut, and we reinstated them. Our purpose is not to reduce any level of scientific research that’s important,” Kennedy said.
It was not immediately clear when that grant was cancelled or if it has been reinstated. The Hill has reached out for more information.
In the same interview, Kennedy for the first time said people should get the measles shot.
“I encourage people to get the measles vaccine,” Kennedy said. “The federal government’s position, my position, is that people should get the measles vaccine, but … the government should not be mandating those.”
His comments come as an outbreak primarily among unvaccinated people in West Texas has killed two children and sickened more than 500 people since the start of the year.
They are the strongest pro-vaccine comments Kennedy has made in any public remarks since he was sworn in as secretary in January.
Yet in the same interview, Kennedy continued to raise doubts about vaccine safety.
“When I say they’re not safety tested, what I mean is they’re not adequately — many of the vaccines are tested for only three or four days with no placebo group,” Kennedy said. “I always said during my campaign and every part, every public statement I’ve made: I’m not gonna take people’s vaccines away from them. What I’m gonna do is make sure that we have good science so that people can make an informed choice.”
In an X post last weekend made after visiting the epicenter of the outbreak and attending the funeral of one of the children who died, Kennedy wrote that the measles vaccine is the “most effective way to prevent the spread” of the disease. But he stopped short of recommending it.
Kennedy has touted fringe theories about prevention and treatment, like the benefits of vitamin A and cod liver oil over the measles vaccine, which is the only proven way to prevent infection.
When he has talked about the shot, he’s framed it as a personal choice while also suggesting the vaccine can cause just as much harm as the disease itself.
