Amna Nawaz
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WATCH: RFK Jr. clarifies stance on placebo trials
Posted
May 20, 2025
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May 20, 2025
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2:56Now PlayingSen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, asked Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday to clarify his position on placebo safety trials for childhood vaccines.
In a hearing last week, Kennedy said that the only vaccine given to children that has been safety tested against a placebo is the COVID-19 shot. Schatz said he wanted to understand Kennedy’s perspective, saying he wasn’t asking a “gotcha” question.
“I'm hoping that I misunderstand what you're talking about,” Schatz said. “You know placebo-controlled trials exist in the existing vaccine approval process. Are you suggesting something different than that?”
“I don’t think that it’s ethical to go back and retest those vaccines against a placebo, if that’s what you’re suggesting,” Kennedy replied at the Senate Appropriations health subcommittee hearing.
He said that research has shown that observational trials in retrospective studies can provide similar information to placebo-controlled studies.
Kennedy also clarified that he was referring to safety trials, not efficacy trials.
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