Sanders releases HHS emails on pressure over CDC vaccine messaging
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the ranking member of the Senate health committee, released a tranche of internal Health and Human Services emails on June 25 that he says document Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressuring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over how it communicates about vaccines.
According to the correspondence, a CDC staffer was told that the HHS communications director had ordered the agency to “pull out of circulation all campaign ad buys related to flu or anything encouraging shots or vaccinations,” with the instruction attributed directly to Kennedy. In a separate August 2025 message, Kennedy’s then chief of staff wrote to the CDC director about the need for “political review of major decisions” at the agency. Sanders said the emails show Kennedy running what he called a misinformation campaign from the top of the department.
The release adds documentary detail to a running dispute over the politicization of federal vaccine policy under Kennedy, who has restructured the CDC’s outside vaccine advisory panel and changed COVID-19 recommendations. Kennedy has defended his tenure and rejected characterizations that he is undermining vaccine science.