RFK Jr. Appears Disengaged on Many Health Department Matters Beyond Vaccines

Summary

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has largely stepped back from running his sprawling department, leaving major management matters to subordinates while fixating on vaccine and food policy, according to colleagues interviewed by the Times. The portrait suggests a leader who has narrowed his focus to the ideological priorities that animated his campaign, vaccines especially, rather than tackling the routine administrative machinery of one of the government's largest agencies. Kennedy's selective engagement raises questions about whether the department's other critical functions, from disease surveillance to drug approvals to Medicare operations, are receiving adequate leadership attention.