FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Doctors for America
PO Box: 21161
2300 18th St NW Lbby
Washington, DC 20009-9996
May 15, 2025
Doctors for America’s FDA Task Force Dismayed by Kennedy Testimony
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Doctors for America’s (DFA) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Task Force is deeply concerned about remarks made by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during yesterday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing. It is incredibly alarming that in his first time testifying before the HELP Committee since taking the oath of office, Secretary Kennedy chose to defend the dismantling of our nation’s public health agencies and engage in false rhetoric around vaccine safety and efficacy.
Throughout the hearing, Secretary Kennedy maintained that widespread cuts across HHS are necessary for the sake of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. However, it has become clear in recent weeks that the administration’s decision to gut the public health agencies will cost the American people much more than it will save. Kennedy’s claim that “no scientist was fired” at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is demonstrably false. Critical staff at the agency, including key regulators and scientific experts, were arbitrarily purged from the agency, leaving the FDA weaker and less effective than ever before. As a result of these massive cuts to FDA’s scientific and technical expertise, drug development and approvals have slowed down, hindering access for patients to promising treatments. Americans are also increasingly unsafe as Kennedy has dismissed technical staff who inspect and ensure safety of facilities manufacturing drugs and goods.
Secretary Kennedy’s defense of his handling of the measles outbreak raised concerns about his ability to address any public health crisis. The standard response of activating the public health officers to educate, engage and vaccinate did not happen due to funding cuts. He has continued to minimize the significance of the outbreak, continued to insist that the vaccine is not safe, and while he advises parents to use dangerous remedies, he stated publicly that “people should not be taking medical advice” from him.
Secretary Kennedy also repeatedly defended President Trump’s FY26 budget proposal, which seeks to codify these public health cuts, despite rising measles and whooping cough outbreaks throughout portions of the country. Significant cuts to FDA’s staffing has also led to less communications to doctors alerting them of safety concerns of approved medical products, leaving patients and their doctors to fend for themselves. Further cuts to our nation’s health agencies would significantly jeopardize the health and well-being of the patients we treat.
As physicians, we continue to express our deeply held concerns about Secretary Kennedy’s leadership of HHS and the long-lasting adverse impact this administration will have on our nation’s public health infrastructure.
For press inquiries and to speak more on this issue with members of the Doctors for America FDA Task Force please contact Alli Everton with Continuum Health Group ([email protected]).
###
About Doctors for America:
Doctors for America mobilizes doctors and medical students to be leaders in putting patients over politics to improve the health of our patients, communities, and nation. DFA is an organization of over 27,000 physician and medical student advocates in all 50 states, representing all areas of specialization. DFA teaches physicians and medical students advocacy skills and does advocacy at a state and federal level. Our impact areas focus on access to affordable care, community health and prevention, and health justice and equity. DFA focuses solely on what is best for our patients, not on the business side of medicine, and does not accept any funding from pharmaceutical or medical device companies, which uniquely positions DFA as the organization that puts patients over politics and patients over profits. Find out more at doctorsforamerica.org and on X drsforamerica or Bluesky drsforamerica.bsky.social.