Caroline Kennedy, US ambassador to Australia, speaks during the AFR Business Summit in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
Brent Lewin | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views on vaccines are “dangerous” and rejected by his family, U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy said of her cousin, whom President-elect Donald Trump has picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The ambassador, speaking Monday at the National Press Club of Australia, said she believes most Americans also disagree with RFK Jr.’s well-documented history of spreading skepticism and conspiracy theories about vaccines.
“I’m a sitting ambassador, and I’m not supposed to comment on politics … and now you’re asking me to also comment on family, so that’s really a lot,” she told a reporter who asked if she was concerned about RFK Jr.’s views becoming mainstream.
“I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous,” she said. “But I don’t think that most Americans share them. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
She added, “I grew up with him, so I’ve known all this for a long time, and others are just getting to know him.” The line drew chuckles from the audience.
Caroline Kennedy offered the remarks as she prepared to leave her post, making way for the incoming Trump administration.
Caroline Kennedy, 66, is the only surviving child of former Democratic President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
A U.S. diplomat, she had not joined a slew of other Kennedy family members who had denounced RFK Jr. over his longshot presidential bid and later decision to endorse Trump. That group included her son, Jack Schlossberg.
Trump warmly accepted RFK Jr.’s support on the campaign trail, and vowed before the election that he would let the Kennedy family scion “go wild on health” if he won.
RFK Jr., 70, is an environmental lawyer and founder of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense. As he encouraged voters to back the Trump-Vance Republican presidential ticket, he also advocated for putting himself in charge of efforts to, as he put it, “Make America Healthy Again.”
If confirmed to the cabinet role, RFK Jr. would be put in charge of the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and numerous other agencies.
He has suggested in recent interviews that some “entire departments” under the HHS umbrella, such as the FDA’s nutrition department, “have to go.”
RFK Jr.’s embrace of Trump and the GOP put a spotlight on his break with the rest of the Kennedy family, which for decades has been closely associated with the Democratic Party.
After denouncing RFK Jr.’s vaccine views, Caroline Kennedy in the same response Monday touted the accomplishments in public health care that other members of her family had achieved.
She noted that her uncle, former Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, “spent 50 years fighting for affordable health care in the Senate,” and that her aunt, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics.
“The National Institute of Maternal and Child Health is now named after her,” Caroline Kennedy said. “So I would say that our family is united in terms of our support for the public health sector and infrastructure and has the greatest admiration for the medical profession in our country.”
“Bobby Kennedy has got a different set of views,” she said.