Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is starting a podcast. Unveiling the show on social media, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary framed the podcast as a response to public health problems that he said have made “many of us ... come to the conclusion that [the] government actually lies to us.”
The podcast gives RFK Jr., a longstanding critic of vaccines and the pharma industry, another channel to communicate his ideas. RFK Jr.’s rise to the top of the HHS has already created a challenging environment for the biopharma industry, especially vaccine manufacturers that are contending with how to get their messages across at a time of mounting opposition to their products.
RFK Jr. said in a post that the podcast will feature “fearless conversations with critical thinkers, including independent doctors, respected scientists and leaders in medical innovation and research.” The HHS chief added that he will “lift the taboos and expose the hypocrisy and the conflicts and the corruption.”
In RFK Jr.’s view, the U.S. has to “confront the lies that have made us spiritually, morally and physically sick” to become a healthy nation. The HHS leader said that Americans, after decades of being told to trust the system, see that their children are sicker, chronic disease is exploding and the answers that they’ve been given aren’t working.
An HHS official said the first episode will drop next week, adding that the show will have a biweekly cadence. RFK Jr.’s track record and comments in the video unveiling the podcast suggest the show could add to the challenges facing biopharma communications teams.
Paul Hudson, then the CEO of Sanofi, said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January that the company would have to “deal with any uncertainty around vaccine coverage rates in the short term based on misinformation, Facebook posts and statements from the top.” Sanofi’s strategy was to give patients and parents the best advice, Hudson added.
Yet, it is unclear if patients and parents will listen. Michael Paas, head of value and access at AbbVie, said at a Gabelli Funds event last year that the pharma industry’s image and trust problem means drugmakers aren’t always the best messengers for the messages they want to communicate. Sometimes, Paas said, it is better if the message comes from someone else.