RFK Jr. to keep collecting fees from lawsuits against Merck over HPV vaccines : Shots

Even when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as the following Well being and Human Companies secretary, he nonetheless plans to gather charges from Wisner Baum, a legislation agency suing Merck over claims that the pharmaceutical firm didn’t correctly warn shoppers about dangers from its HPV vaccine, Gardasil, in response to new filings with the Workplace of Authorities Ethics.

Kennedy will solely acquire the charges if Wisner Baum wins, and just for instances that are not towards america or during which america is not a celebration and would not have “a direct or substantial curiosity,” in response to the filings.

“Pursuant to the referral settlement, I’m entitled to obtain 10% of charges awarded in contingency charge instances referred to the agency,” Kennedy wrote in his signed ethics settlement. “I’m not making an attempt these instances, I’m not an legal professional of report for the instances, and I can’t present representational providers in reference to the instances throughout my appointment to the place of Secretary.”

The filings, submitted to the U.S. Workplace of Authorities Ethics as a part of the affirmation course of, element Kennedy’s many monetary holdings and pursuits. If he becomes HHS secretary and continues to gather charges, he could be able to doubtlessly revenue from vaccine litigation whereas additionally regulating drugmakers and exercising authority over federal vaccine coverage.

“RFK Jr’s ethics settlement is insufficient as a result of it would not tackle the bias created by his persevering with monetary curiosity within the litigation towards Merck,” Kathleen Clark, a legislation professor at Washington College in St. Louis who makes a speciality of authorities ethics wrote to NPR.

Neither a spokeswoman for Kennedy nor the Trump transition staff instantly returned repeated requests for remark.

The paperwork and their hyperlink to the Gardasil vaccine lawsuit have been first reported by The New York Occasions.

The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 29, to contemplate Kennedy’s nomination to run HHS.

In Kennedy’s profile page on Wisner Baum’s web site, he’s first recognized as “co-counsel with Wisner Baum within the Gardasil litigation,” and he has used his platforms on social media and thru his nonprofit to promote the suit and his concerns with the vaccine towards the human papillomavirus.

HPV is a quite common sexually transmitted virus that can cause cancers later in life. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention recommends two doses of HPV vaccine at ages 11 to 12 and says it supplies protected, efficient and lasting safety towards HPV infections.

In accordance with Kennedy’s private monetary disclosure report, he made $856,559 in referral charges from the legislation agency. That is along with $326,056 in wage and advantages he earned from the nonprofit Kids’s Well being Protection, a corporation Kennedy chaired and that has been influential within the anti-vaccine movement. The nonprofit has filed practically 30 federal and state lawsuits since 2020, together with some that focus on the federal businesses he would oversee at HHS. Most of the authorized actions taken by CHD challenged vaccines and public well being mandates.

The submitting says Kennedy took an unpaid depart of absence from the group in April 2023, when he declared his run for the presidency, and that he resigned from CHD efficient December 2024.

The submitting additionally exhibits Kennedy declared a $8,848,402 share of partnership income from the legislation agency Kennedy and Madonna, LLP, which has been renamed Madonna and Madonna, LLP. The submitting says he acquired his “closing partnership payout in Could 2024.” He additionally made cash from one other legislation agency, publishing and varied different charges for talking and endorsements.

Edited by Scott Hensley and Jane Greenhalgh