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.”

A panel of vaccine advisers handpicked by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. concluded a two-day meeting with votes to limit the availability of certain flu vaccines. Their concern is a preservative that has been a source of controversy despite ample evidence that it is safe.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week announced that the United States is pulling its funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which says it has vaccinated more than 1.1 billion children in low-income countries in the past 25 years.