'One year of failure.' The Lancet slams RFK Jr.’s first year as health chief : NPRhttps://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5730372/one-year-of-failure-the-lancet-slams-rfk-jr-s-first-year-as-health-chief

[mamabearcathy@mindly.social]

'One year of failure.' The Lancet slams RFK Jr.’s first year as health chief : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5730372/one-year-of-failure-the-lancet-slams-rfk-jr-s-first-year-as-health-chief

One of the world's leading medical journals has issued a scathing rebuke of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to mark his first year leading the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The editorial — titled "Robert F. Kennedy Jr: 1 year of failure" — appears in the latest issue of the Lancet.

A quote from the piece marks an otherwise blank front cover: "The destruction that Kennedy has wrought in 1 year might take generations to repair, and there is little hope for US health and science while he remains at the helm."

The journal's editorial board catalogues many of the controversial actions taken under Kennedy's watch, including the dismissal of agency employees, "revisions of guidelines and recommendations contradicting decades of established science," cuts to cutting-edge scientific research, the undermining of vaccine policy and promotion of "junk science and fringe beliefs."