Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new deputy already seems at odds with his anti-vaccine crusade.
Chris Klomp, Trump’s nominee to be deputy health secretary, testified before the Senate on Tuesday and appeared to fully endorse the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.
Klomp, who currently serves as HHS chief counselor, said that the vaccine is “Unquestionably...the single most effective public health tool that we have against measles.”
“It’s 97 percent effective after two doses [in] preventing transmission, and this is the single best thing that we can do to eradicate [the disease,]” Klomp said.
When asked about RFK Jr.’s favorite conspiracy theory, that the vaccine causes autism, Klomp appeared slightly more open to that notion but still cast some doubt.
“I do not believe, based on the preponderance of evidence I have seen, that MMR vaccines cause autism. But we also don’t know what causes autism, and as a country, that should concern us greatly,” he explained.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, still did not appear reassured by Klomp’s testimony, saying, “We’ve had a real word salad on the vaccine issue.”
“You’ve been all over the map, and you have this view and that view. And the president is a good guy, and you like Kennedy. But people are still going to be confused,” he said.
“We’ve got the highest [measles] rates now in decades, and you aren’t giving people any clear statement about what you would do if you’re confirmed,” Wyden continued. “So I want to announce today I’m going to oppose your confirmation. I’m going to oppose it vigorously because of the confusion and the bedlam you created on the vaccine issue this morning.”
The confirmation hearing comes as cases of measles have exploded in the U.S. during the second Trump administration.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 3,294 measles cases across the country so far this year.
Pennsylvania has been hit particularly hard, as four people have died due to a measles outbreak in the state. Their deaths come as nearly 700 measles cases have been reported in the state just this year, prompting more than 133-measles related hospitalizations.
The U.S. is headed toward losing its measles elimination status, which it has held since 2000, as officials review it in November.
Trump meanwhile has only made the issue cloudier. He issued an executive order on childhood vaccines in August 2026 that recommended splitting the combined MMR vaccine into three separate shots.
