exclusive interview: 1-on-1 with HHS Secretary RFK Jr.

In a political appointment that sent shockwaves through both Washington D.C. and the healthcare industry, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now sits at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services. Known for his decades of environmental advocacy and vocal criticism of federal health agencies, his transition from outsider to insider is one of the most compelling stories of the new administration. In this exclusive interview, we sit down with Secretary Kennedy to discuss his first eight months in office, his sweeping vision for reform, and how he plans to tackle America’s chronic disease crisis.

A New Vision for HHS

Walking into the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, there’s a palpable sense of change. Secretary Kennedy greets us not with the guarded caution of a typical cabinet member, but with the focused intensity of the activist he’s always been. His first order of business, he tells us, is to reorient the entire department.

“For far too long, Health and Human Services has been a ‘Sickness and Human Services’ department,” Kennedy states, leaning forward in his chair. “We have the best emergency care in the world, no question. But we are failing miserably at keeping people healthy in the first place. My goal is to pivot this massive ship—away from a model that primarily serves the pharmaceutical industry and toward one that creates genuine health and wellness for the American people.”

This means a fundamental shift in focus and funding. The Secretary outlines plans to bolster programs that address what he calls the “root causes” of illness: environmental toxins, ultra-processed foods, and economic despair. “We spend billions on managing diabetes, but pennies on studying the chemicals in our environment that are linked to metabolic dysfunction. That is a profound failure of public health, and it’s a failure we will correct.”

Our Exclusive Interview: Tackling the Chronic Disease Epidemic

Central to Kennedy’s mission is addressing the epidemic of chronic illness plaguing the nation. He argues that the rates of autoimmune disease, allergies, autism, and obesity cannot be explained by genetics alone and demands a national investigation into environmental triggers.

“Look at the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” he says, his voice rising with passion. “Six in ten adults in the US have a chronic disease. Four in ten have two or more. This isn’t just a health crisis; it’s an economic and national security crisis. We are being hollowed out from the inside.”

He has commissioned a new cross-agency task force between HHS, the EPA, and the Department of Agriculture to study the cumulative impact of pesticides, industrial chemicals, and food additives on children’s health. “We must have the courage to ask the questions that powerful corporate interests don’t want us to ask,” Kennedy insists. He points to chemicals like atrazine, glyphosate, and arsenic in the water supply as key areas of concern that he believes have been under-regulated for decades.

This approach has, unsurprisingly, been met with fierce resistance. But the Secretary remains undeterred. “The science is there if you’re willing to look at it without the filter of industry influence. This isn’t a partisan issue; it’s about protecting our children’s future.”

Reforming the Regulators: FDA and CDC in the Crosshairs

Perhaps the most controversial part of Secretary Kennedy’s agenda is his plan to overhaul the very agencies under his purview, namely the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC. He has long been a critic of what he terms “regulatory capture,” the phenomenon where regulatory agencies become dominated by the industries they are charged with regulating.

“The American people have lost faith in our federal health agencies, and frankly, they have good reason to,” he explains. “When you see that a significant percentage of senior officials at the FDA or CDC leave their government posts to take high-paying jobs at the pharmaceutical companies they were just regulating, you don’t have a watchdog anymore. You have a lapdog.”

His reform package, detailed in a plan he shared during our exclusive interview, includes several key proposals:

• A lifetime ban on senior HHS officials lobbying for the pharmaceutical or insurance industries.
• Establishing a truly independent, separately funded office for post-market drug and vaccine safety surveillance.
• Requiring that all scientific data used in regulatory approvals be made public and accessible for independent analysis.

These proposals have been a hot topic since his confirmation, which we covered in-depth during his confirmation hearings. “It’s about restoring scientific integrity and public trust,” he adds. “Without that, none of our other public health goals are achievable.”

The Path Forward on Vaccine Safety and Public Trust

No discussion with RFK Jr. would be complete without addressing vaccines. His past skepticism has made him a lightning rod for criticism. We asked how he reconciles his previous advocacy with his current role in overseeing national immunization programs.

“My position has been consistently mischaracterized,” he says calmly. “I am not anti-vaccine. I am pro-safety, pro-transparency, and pro-rigorous science. My own children are vaccinated. The question has never been ‘if’ we should have vaccines, but ‘how’ we ensure the ones we have are as safe as they possibly can be.”

As Secretary, he states his policy is not to end vaccination programs, but to demand a higher standard of safety testing and transparency. “We are going to conduct a robust, transparent, and independent review of the entire childhood immunization schedule, looking at cumulative exposures and health outcomes. We will make the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) more user-friendly and its data more transparent. Informed consent must be the bedrock of all medical procedures, and that requires giving parents honest and complete information.”

He argues that rebuilding trust requires acknowledging that no medical product is 100% safe and that concerns from parents should be met with compassion and data, not ridicule and censorship. “If the science is solid, it should have no problem withstanding scrutiny. The moment you say a topic is off-limits for debate, you’re no longer practicing science; you’re practicing dogma.”

As our time concludes, it’s clear that Secretary Kennedy’s tenure at HHS will be anything but quiet. He is a man on a mission, convinced that the American healthcare system has lost its way and that he is the one to right the course. His supporters see him as a brave truth-teller, while his detractors view him as a dangerous ideologue. One thing is certain: the changes he is initiating will be felt for years to come, forcing a national conversation about the very definition of health in America.