Democratic senators accuse Kennedy of not adhering to ethics agreement in vaccine lawsuit

A group of Senate Democrats questioned whether Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. potentially concealed an agreement to collect money from a settlement with a vaccine manufacturer despite pledging to divest from the lawsuit.

At the time of his confirmation process last year, Kennedy was still involved in a lawsuit carried out by the law firm Wisner Baum against Merck over its HPV vaccine Gardasil, alleging that it caused neurological and autoimmune injuries.

Merck agreed to pay $50 million earlier this year to settle the lawsuit without admitting any guilt, maintaining its product was safe and effective. Wisner Baum confirmed soon after that neither Kennedy nor his son would receive from the settlement, contradicting what the secretary told Congress about how he would handle his divestment.

The discrepancy drew skepticism from Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Angela Alsobrooks (Md.).

“It is possible you made this valuable concession expecting nothing in return. But if the agreement involves any kind of implicit or explicit agreement with Wisner Baum about future payments or other future rewards in exchange for your Gardasil stake, it would prompt concerns about your ongoing conflicts of interest with the firm, and about the integrity of your decisions at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),” they wrote in a letter to Kennedy.

While Kennedy at first indicated his plans to retain part of the fees awarded in the case, arguing at the time that he was “entitled” to that money and wasn’t actively involved in the case as an attorney, he later committed to divesting his interest and instead assigning them to his son.

Kennedy’s son Conor Kennedy is an associate at Wisner Baum, though he is not listed among counsel involved with the Gardasil case. In an August letter to Warren, HHS Assistant Secretary for Legislation Gary Andres confirmed the HHS secretary had irrevocably assigned his interests in the case to Wisner Baum.

“The modification also raises questions about the conditions and circumstances under which you decided to relinquish the stakes back to Wisner Baum. You have provided no explanation for this change, and you have failed to clarify whether it may entitle you to additional benefits or other considerations from Wisner Baum upon leaving government,” the lawmakers added.

“If you made any kind of implicit or explicit agreement for future payment or other future rewards with Wisner Baum in exchange for assigning them this stake, it would mean that you have an ongoing conflict of interest that calls into question your integrity and the motivations for your decisions as HHS Secretary.”

HHS senior press secretary Emily Hilliard said in a statement to The Hill that Kennedy “fully complied with his ethics agreement and divested his entire financial interest in the Gardasil contingency-fee cases before assuming his duties as Secretary.”

“He retained no financial interest in those fees, and HHS ethics officials confirmed his compliance to the relevant congressional committees,” she added. “Any claim that Secretary Kennedy maintained a financial interest in this litigation after taking office is false.”