RFK Jr.’s Financial Ties to Vaccine Lawsuits Hang Over Nomination
HHS secretary nominee, after questions from Democrats, agrees to transfer his stake in Gardasil personal-injury lawsuits
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would give up his financial interest in vaccine lawsuits—a potentially lucrative arrangement that drew rebukes at his confirmation hearings for his nomination as secretary of health and human services.
Legal experts said the move isn’t enough.
Kennedy has received more than $2 million for referring a range of legal cases to a plaintiffs law firm. He had planned if confirmed to keep getting such fees from a tranche of litigation against the pharmaceutical company Merck and its Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine. He reversed course at the end of last week, saying he plans to transfer the stake in the personal-injury lawsuits to one of his sons.
The arrangement still presents a conflict of interest because he could, as secretary, sway policy for his family’s financial gain, according to legal experts. For instance, Kennedy could make official statements as secretary that question vaccine safety, swaying jurors in the litigation.
He could also take actions that benefit his vaccine plaintiffs bar colleagues generally, such as by adding injuries or vaccines to the compensation system for vaccine injuries.
“There’s a serious problem if he is in a position to take actions that could affect the success of the lawsuits,” said Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School who has researched government ethics.
Even with Kennedy forgoing direct compensation and transferring it to a son, “There is certainly an ethical problem in being able to use public authority to benefit financially an adult child,” Briffault said.
Kennedy, in response to written follow-up questions from senators, said he didn’t need to recuse himself from certain decisions that could affect Gardasil litigation. Kennedy “will divest his interests in cases involving vaccine manufacturers prior to entering government service,” a spokeswoman said.
Kennedy, whom President Trump nominated to become HHS secretary after Kennedy endorsed Trump during the campaign, has questioned the safety of vaccines in the past though more recently has said he isn’t antivaccine.
Democrats sought to use his ties to plaintiffs’ lawyers and personal-injury lawsuits to attack Kennedy during hearings last week. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) of the Senate Finance Committee pressed him on whether his actions as HHS secretary could influence the lawsuits in which he has a financial stake.
“RFK Jr.’s plan to hand off his stake in a vaccine-related lawsuit to his son raises more questions than answers,” she said after Kennedy’s agreement to transfer stakes in the Gardasil lawsuits. “RFK Jr.’s nomination must be delayed until all of his serious conflicts are fully resolved.”
During the hearings, Kennedy declined to say whether Gardasil was safe and effective. He told Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) of the Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last week that a trial jury would answer those questions.
Under a consulting agreement with the product-liability law firm Wisner Baum, Kennedy has been getting 10% of fees awarded for lawsuits he has referred to the firm, according to federal ethics records.
The deal has netted Kennedy more than $2.4 million since 2016, according to the ethics records.
The cases he referred to Wisner Baum included lawsuits against an electric utility over a Los Angeles area wildfire in 2018, and lawsuits against Monsanto alleging that its weedkiller Roundup caused cancer, according to Kennedy’s ethics disclosures.
Wisner Baum didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Kennedy didn’t specify which of his sons would receive his fees under his new ethics proposal. Kennedy’s son Conor is a lawyer at Los Angeles-based Wisner Baum and has filed product-liability lawsuits against drugmakers.
Conor Kennedy didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Kennedy has also had a referral agreement with Morgan & Morgan, a law firm that has filed personal-injury lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, including the makers of popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic.
Under that agreement, Kennedy got a 10% cut of fees awarded in contingency-fee cases he referred to the firm. He reported $62,500 of income from that arrangement in 2023.
If confirmed, Kennedy would direct a department—and its agencies—that regulate vaccines and their manufacturers.
Kennedy pledged, in an ethics statement filed following his nomination to become HHS secretary, to terminate the Morgan & Morgan arrangement upon confirmation. He said he doesn’t have any outstanding Morgan & Morgan cases that would entitle him to further payment.
He had also planned to end his consulting agreement with Wisner Baum if confirmed. Initially he wanted to retain a contingency-fee interest in cases in which the federal government isn’t a party, according to his ethics statement.
Under that initial ethics pledge, Kennedy would have been entitled to receive a portion of future recoveries from Gardasil lawsuits because the federal government isn’t a party to the lawsuits. The share could go to one of his sons under his latest ethics proposal.
Law firms including Wisner Baum have filed a total of more than 210 lawsuits against Merck over Gardasil. The lawsuits alleged that the Gardasil vaccination caused harmful side effects, such as a condition that can cause faster heartbeats, dizziness and fatigue.
Merck said Gardasil didn’t cause the alleged injuries and has proved to be safe. The company declined to comment on Kennedy’s connection to the litigation.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Gardasil in 2006. Studies have shown that the vaccine reduces the risk of cervical and other cancers as well as related diseases caused by the human papillomavirus.
Last year researchers reported in the British Medical Journal that women who had been vaccinated in the U.K. had 84% fewer cervical cancer cases and 94% fewer precancerous lesions than those who weren’t vaccinated. U.S. public-health officials recommend that the shot be given routinely to children at ages 11 or 12.