The following news analysis was first published on Sharyl ATTKISSON‘s Free Substack

Kennedy’s reforms aren’t being proposed to disrupt a healthy and effective system that’s served us well; quite the opposite. The context is a sick and broken establishment that demands a fresh approach.

In a bold push to overhaul the U.S. public health system, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has initiated sweeping reforms at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), including firing top officials, pledging the first comprehensive scientific review of the childhood vaccine schedule, and launching investigations into autism causes and chronic disease epidemics.

These moves, aimed at addressing what Kennedy describes as systemic failures in public health, have drawn sharp criticism from establishment medicine and media outlets, who accuse him of endangering children’s health and undermining science.

But a closer examination reveals an irony: critics are defending a status quo riddled with missteps, while ignoring decades of escalating health crises that Kennedy seeks to confront, with crucial support from President Trump.

No other president or HHS secretary has tried what’s being attempted today: a serious overhaul of ineffective and corrupt systems impacting public health. And for it, they are making powerful enemies at high levels.

Read on for details.

Kennedy, appointed by President Trump earlier this year, has long advocated for greater scrutiny of environmental toxins, vaccines, and pharmaceutical influences on health policy.

While he’s often portrayed as uninformed and unscientific, he is likely today’s most knowledgeable national political figure when it comes to how industry influence has corrupted public health and the agencies tasked with advising us on it. As an attorney, he has successfully litigated environmental and vaccine safety cases, becoming an expert in medical and scientific fine points that his critics are apparently ignorant about.

His reforms began shortly after confirmation. Most recently, there’s the ousting of CDC Director Susan Monarez and several top officials, with Kennedy citing “malaise” and conflicts of interest within the agency following decades of proof on both fronts.

He has announced plans to get the topic of nutrition taught more extensively in America’s medical schools. He’s said he will soon announce findings regarding some “interventions” that have contributed to the autism epidemic, emphasizing an “aggregation of causes,” including environmental factors that are known to disrupt brain function. He’s announced plans to examine the impact of the entire US children’s vaccination schedule for the first time through a comprehensive scientific review— sorely overdue. If the review shows no issues, it will rebuild confidence among parents who have understandably come to doubt medical advice. If the review unearths problems, it will provide a path to fix them and rebuild public confidence.

Additionally, Kennedy has shifted funding away from controversial mRNA vaccine research—canceling $500 million in contracts—to prioritize what he sees as scientifically “safer” alternatives. He’s remade the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which has been behind misinformation and numerous missteps in recent years. Kennedy removed all 17 members and is appointing new ones. They include vaccine expert and inventor Dr. Robert Malone who has criticized prior vaccine policies as dangerous and corrupt.

These actions stem from the view held by Kennedy and millions of Americans that the CDC has been “in trouble” for years, plagued by industry ties and failures to address root causes of disease. He has highlighted the agency’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic, where— despite billions in preparedness funding— US health officials were totally unprepared; they disseminated false information on masks, transmission, and the vaccines; and they were wrong on key aspects like vaccine effectiveness and mandates.

There are decades of CDC blunders including the 2009 swine flu response, where the CDC falsely declared an epidemic, rushed an experimental vaccine that caused injuries in hundreds, and misattributed illnesses. (My CBS News investigation showed most of the illnesses the government pubicly attributed to swine flu— weren’t swine flu at all.)

Despite our public health establishment’s abysmal track record on so many important fronts, criticism of Kennedy by establishment figures has been swift and hyperbolic. Medical groups and media outlets claim his reforms put children’s health at risk by “undermining vaccine science” and could lead to outbreaks.

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For instance, CNN reported Kennedy’s vaccine committee overhaul is a “tightening grip” on vaccines, heightening “anxiety.” Canadian scientists called his firing of the immunization committee “worrisome,” fearing politicization of science—as if science hasn’t already been politicized and as if the committee had been making good decisions all along. Vaccine industry allies labeled Kennedy’s mRNA funding cuts “factually incorrect,” accusing him of endangering public health. Media like MSNBC and Axios dubbed it an “anti-vaccine revolution,” warning of broad ramifications.

A particularly illogical example of criticism comes from a cable news segment on August 28, after Kennedy defended firing the CDC director. An analyst expressed alarm over “what Kennedy might do to vaccines,” hoping he wouldn’t “endanger everybody for flu season.”

This ignores that Kennedy has not restricted flu shots; in fact, he urged the vaccine advisory committee to recommend thimerosal-free versions for children and pregnant women, citing safety concerns over the longstanding use of the controversial mercury ingredient (thimerosal).

What’s more, studies show flu vaccine effectiveness is limited at best, as low as four percent, with serious possible side effects such as paralysis. A key government-backed review found regular flu shots entirely ineffective in reducing all-cause mortality among the elderly, and of no benefit to any age group. Studies in other countries echoed the findings.

Kennedy’s call for examining the childhood vaccine schedule, including well-established scientific links to autism that mainstream reporters and medical officials are ignorant of or in denial about, aligns with rising rates and public demand. Critics appear to be defending the system and officials in charge of our health as autism exploded on the scene with a shocking 1 in 150 kids in 2000 to an unthinkable 1 in 31 today, per CDC’s own data.

Kennedy argues environmental toxins—like pesticides and endocrine disruptors in food and water—warrant investigation, a view supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiatives and many scientists. He supports vaccines but demands transparency, echoing calls from many medical experts outside of the establishment and concerned parents. Yet his stances are misrepresented as fringe and “anti-vax”— and rarely are counterpoints represented, though there are many.

The irony is stark: these critics are defending a broken system that has overseen America’s chronic disease explosion. Today, an estimated 129 million Americans have at least one major chronic condition, with pediatric prevalence rising nearly 30% from 2011-2023 and hitting 25 million youth. Conditions like heart disease, cancer, autism, anxiety, depression, juvenile diabetes POTS, Crohn’s disease, skin disorders, and other autoimmune issues have skyrocketed.

Taxpayers spend $4.5 trillion annually on healthcare and 90% on chronic diseases, yet our public health experts have put the focus on expensive treatments that add side effects without curing roots.

Critics who remained silent on these epidemics—blaming genetics alone despite evidence of environmental links—now portray Kennedy as the threat for probing them.

The backlash often ignores Kennedy’s stated goal: restoring trust through evidence. As chronic illnesses bankrupt families and new diseases emerge potentially linked to toxins, vaccines, or other medicine, defending a broken system that ill-served Americans for decades is not just illogical—it’s potentially corrupt, prioritizing profits over prevention.

Of course there’s no guarantee that Kennedy’s reforms will cure all ills. With so much unknown, no single person will have the correct answer to all the questions. It would be unrealistic to think there won’t be missteps and mistakes along the way.

But Kennedy’s reforms aren’t being proposed to disrupt a healthy and effective system that’s served us well; quite the opposite. The context is a sick and broken establishment that demands a fresh approach.

Whatever the ultimate result, this is the first comprehensive attempt to fix what’s truly endangering public health. The interests who benefit from the status quo, and those they influence, will not let this happen without an epic fight.