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Norms Impact

‘One year of failure.’ The Lancet slams RFK Jr.’s first year as health chief

A federal health chief is accused of rewriting science-based guidance, cutting research, and undermining vaccine policy—shifting public health power away from evidence and toward personal ideology.

Executive

Feb 28, 2026

Sources

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5730372/one-year-of-failure-the-lancet-slams-rfk-jr-s-first-year-as-health-chief

Summary

The Lancet published an editorial condemning Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first year leading the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The editorial describes staffing dismissals, guideline changes that contradict established science, research cuts, and actions that weaken federal vaccine policy. The practical consequence is a federal health apparatus described as less capable of protecting public health and sustaining scientific standards as the U.S. exceeds 1,000 measles cases in 2026.

Reality Check

When federal health leadership revises guidance to contradict established science and undermines vaccine policy, we normalize governance by personal conviction rather than evidence-based standards. That precedent weakens core guardrails that protect public health decision-making from political and ideological capture. If top officials also pressure scientists to stop publishing in major journals and threaten legal action against scientific outlets, our scientific infrastructure becomes easier to intimidate and harder to trust. Over time, this corrodes the independence of federal expertise and conditions the public to accept policy detached from verifiable reality.

Media

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Detail

The Lancet published an editorial titled “Robert F. Kennedy Jr: 1 year of failure” marking Kennedy’s first year as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The journal placed a quoted line from the editorial on an otherwise blank front cover.

The editorial board lists actions taken during Kennedy’s tenure, including dismissal of agency employees, revisions of guidelines and recommendations that contradict decades of established science, cuts to scientific research, undermining of vaccine policy, and promotion of “junk science and fringe beliefs.”

An HHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kennedy has publicly criticized major medical journals and said government scientists were “probably going to stop publishing” in journals including The Lancet, calling them “corrupt” and influenced by the pharmaceutical industry; he has also threatened legal action against journals.

The editorial’s publication coincides with CDC data showing the U.S. surpassed 1,000 measles cases in 2026, with outbreaks raising the likelihood the country will lose its measles elimination status.