During his Senate confirmation hearings, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested he wouldn’t undermine vaccines. “I am not going to go into HHS and impose my preordained opinions on anybody at HHS,” he said. “I’m going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their job and make sure that we have good science that is evidence based.” He also said he wouldn’t halt congressionally mandated funding for vaccination programs, nor impose conditions that would force local, state or global entities to limit access to vaccines or vaccine promotion. “I’m not going to substitute my judgment for science,” he said. Yet the Department of Health and Human Services under Kennedy has taken unprecedented steps to change how vaccines are evaluated, approved and recommended — sometimes in ways that run counter to established scientific consensus. Here’s a look at what Kennedy has said and done since becoming the nation’s top health official on Feb. 13. Kennedy and the childhood vaccine schedule Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who was unsettled about Kennedy’s antivaccine work, said Kennedy pledged to him that he wouldn’t change existing vaccine recommendations. “I recommend that children follow the CDC schedule. And I will support the CDC schedule when I get in there,” Kennedy said at his Senate confirmation hearing. Kennedy also said he thought the polio vaccine was safe and effective and that he wouldn’t seek to reduce its availability. Feb. 18: Kennedy vows to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule that prevents measles, polio and other dangerous diseases. Early March: The National Institutes of Health cancels studies about ways to improve vaccine trust and access. April 9: Kennedy tells CBS News that “people should get the measles vaccine, but the government should not be mandating those,” before then continuing to raise safety concerns about vaccines. May 22: Kennedy issues a report that, among other things, questioned the necessity of mandates that require children to get vaccinated for school admission and suggested that vaccines should undergo more clinical trials, including with placebos. The report has to be reissued later because the initial version cited studies that don’t exist. May 30: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removes COVID-19 vaccination guidance for pregnant women and says healthy children “may” get the shots. June 25: A group of vaccine advisers picked by Kennedy announce they are establishing a work group to evaluate the “cumulative effect” of the children’s vaccine schedule. June 25: Kennedy announces the U.S. will stop supporting the vaccines alliance Gavi. He accuses the group, along with the World Health Organization, of silencing “dissenting views” and “legitimate questions” about vaccine safety. Kennedy on revising CDC vaccine recommendations At the confirmation hearing, Cassidy asked Kennedy: “Do you commit that you will revise any CDC recommendations only based on peer review, consensus based, widely accepted science?” Kennedy replied, “Absolutely,” adding he would rely on evidence-based science. Feb. 20: HHS postpones a meeting of outside vaccine advisers. April 16: The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel meets and recommends that people 50 to 59 with certain risk factors should be able to get vaccinated against respiratory syncytial virus, and endorses a new shot that protects against meningococcal bacteria. As of late June, the CDC and HHS haven’t acted on the recommendations. May 27: Kennedy announces that COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women — a move immediately questioned by several public health experts. No one from the CDC, the agency […]