RFK Jr. is now HHS Secretary. What comes next?
What to look out for and tips to navigate the storm
Well, it’s official—RFK Jr. is now the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the department that oversees everything from the FDA and CDC to Medicare and Medicaid. A man who has devoted a large amount of his life to eroding trust in vaccines is now in the nation’s top health post.
This is a big deal.
While beyond heartbreaking to those of us who strive for evidence-based medicine, this confirmation is a mile marker: growing mistrust in institutions, changing information landscape thanks to social media, and a growing consensus among Americans that systems are making them sicker (and in some ways, they aren’t wrong).
We don’t know exactly how these next four years will play out, but what we do know is that the lines between truth and falsehood have never been more blurred. Navigating this new world will require a different approach, and it will require something from everyone.
What to watch for in the short-term
If RFK Jr. were strategic, he wouldn’t go after vaccines right away. Instead, he’d focus on easier, broadly popular wins, like:
Ultra-processed foods
Healthcare policy changes via CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
Administrative reorganization of the FDA
Removing pharmaceutical ads on TV
But even those won’t be easy, given the power of industry lobbying and a pro-business administration.
Still, despite his promise to a senator that he wouldn’t touch vaccines, RFK Jr. has spent decades sowing doubt in them, and even during his confirmation hearings, he brought up the three-decades-old rumor that vaccines cause autism (they don’t). It’s hard to imagine he’ll stay away. So, here’s what we’ll be watching:
ACIP’s upcoming meeting on immunization policies is Feb 26. This is an outside advisory committee that advises on U.S. vaccine policy. RFK Jr. will have immense power over the members, the topics, and ultimately the policies that come out of it.
Potential efforts to undermine states and school districts, for example, by working with the Department of Education (if they are still around) to cut funding for those enforcing strict vaccine requirements.
FDA revisiting past regulatory decisions, like reevaluating vaccine evidence under the guise of making “updated assessments.”
Funding cuts. He has privately suggested that he wants to cut funding for infectious disease and drug development research, and instead focus on chronic disease.
Phishing expeditions, like mining safety monitoring systems like VAERS for spurious correlations, alleging new safety signals that fall apart under robust statistical testing.
New research publications. Watch for unusual or questionable data from new scientific journals directly tied to political appointees.
How to make sense of this moment
Navigating a mix of reasonable statements alongside outright falsehoods will be an ongoing firestorm.
Navigating it isn’t necessarily new—public skepticism of vaccines and institutions, for example, has been around for centuries. Below is a cartoon from 1802 showing people sprouting cow parts after getting the smallpox vaccine (because the vaccine was made from cowpox serum).
But here’s what is new:
Half of Americans get their health information from social media.
Social media rewards sensational content, not accuracy.
Falsehoods spread 6x faster than the truth.
Bad actors fuel this landscape for a profit, like through supplements or services.
These messages are now coming from the highest health office in the country.
It’s easy to feel you’re drowning in conflicting information. Because you are.
Navigating through the storm
This is going to be rough—there is no sugar coating it. We were already drowning in a firehose of false information, and this is going to turn up the water pressure. But there are hundreds and thousands of doctors, scientists, community health workers, and many more who are committed to evidence-based practice and are not going to give up. Here’s how we do that well.
Recognize top-down information doesn’t work anymore.
Historically, health information has trickled down from the top. This traditional model clearly does not meet the moment of the 21st century. Institutional sources of information are often confusing, not rapidly updated, and many people simply don’t trust them anymore. Very few institutions understand this, and even fewer are acting upon it.
Meet people where they are.
People are searching for information from nontraditional sources like social media, and we need to meet them there, providing answers where they are looking. Falsehoods and rumors often influence people in large part because people are unable to find trustworthy, evidence-based information that is accessible, empathetic, easy to understand, and timely to fill information voids. And, guess what is there to fill the gap? Rumors and falsehoods.
Tell more stories.
We don’t have a shortage of data. We don’t just need more facts and charts. We need teachers and storytellers. Because at the end of the day, people remember how you made them feel more than what you said. This means:
A guide, not a lecture. Someone who can explain complex topics in a way that makes sense.
Straight answers. If something is uncertain, say that. If there’s a risk, be upfront about it.
Empathy. Health decisions aren’t just about science—they’re personal. People remember how information made them feel, often moreso than what was said. Most of all, people need information that actually helps them make decisions.
Recognize trust isn’t declared—it’s demonstrated.
Being trustworthy is demonstrating over and over again that you are. It’s a set of acts—clarifying uncertainty, revealing authenticity/vulnerability, being human, owning up to mistakes, and consistently behaving in certain ways over time.
It also requires humility. As scientists, community leaders, or institutions, we know a lot, but we don’t know everything. Humility requires listening instead of hearing — learning from communities rather than prescribing solutions from the top down.
Don’t turn your anger into shaming others.
One thing we know for sure about vaccine communication is shaming people doesn’t help, it only makes things worse. It is likely that RFK Jr. will do things that infuriate the medical community, and people who trust RFK Jr. will support those decisions. It’s easy to respond in anger and call someone an “idiot” for believing false things he says, but this will only backfire. Vent privately, then keep speaking what’s true—clearly and with kindness—even when it’s difficult. That’s how trust is won back.
Keep telling the truth.
The reality about the safety of vaccines does not change depending on who is in charge. When false information gets louder and is repeated over and over, our brains start to want to accept it. Stick with the data, no matter what the CDC website says. In a world where confusion is a tool, clarity is the antidote.
Bottom line
This moment is a big fork in the road—it signals a shift in how health policy, trust, and information will flow within the United States and beyond. And each of us will have to play a part in navigating it. We don’t get to sit this one out.
Love, YLE and KP
Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD, is a resident physician and Yale Emergency Scholar, completing a combined Emergency Medicine residency and research fellowship focusing on health literacy and communication. In her free time, she is the creator of the medical blog You Can Know Things and author of YLE’s section on Health (Mis)communication. You can subscribe to her newsletter or Substack. Views expressed belong to KP, not her employer.
Wondering what you can do as a healthcare provider?
On Tuesday (Feb. 18) at 10 am PT/1 pm ET, YLE will host a paid subscribers webinar titled Navigating Vaccine Conversations: Practical Strategies for Healthcare Providers in a Changing Landscape. Katelyn Jetelina (YLE) will be joined by Drs. David Higgins and Kristen Panthagani— both physicians and excellent communicators. The goal is to equip you with tools that will surely need to be used today and in the years to come, both with talking with patients directly and how to approach vaccine conversations online. Paid subscribers register below!