What is RFK doing to vaccines for children in America?
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from making big changes to vaccines for children in the United States. It is a blow to Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy - RFK Jr - a longtime vaccine sceptic who was given free rein by Donald Trump to “go wild with health”.
Since taking office a year ago, Kennedy has sought to slash the number of recommended shots for children from 17 to 11. The American Academy of Paediatrics and other large medical groups have sued, saying Kennedy's changes violate federal law and are based on ideology instead of science.
Marianna Spring and Justin Webb unpack what this means for Donald Trump’s big plan to - as he puts it - "Make America Healthy Again” with Dr Debra Houry, the former director of the CDC (Centre of Disease Control and Prevention) who resigned in August 2025.
Presenter: Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter and Marianna Spring, social media investigations correspondent Producer: Emma Close and Alix Pickles Technical producer: Mike Regaard Editor: Sam Bonham
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Transcript
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| 0:44.4 | look forward to seeing you there. Now, on with the episode. We're bringing honesty back to vaccine |
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| 1:03.1 | to the families the government has long avoided. We're rewriting America's diet. That's what they promised. |
| 1:08.5 | Those were some of the pledges made on health by the Trump administration as they came to power. |
| 1:13.1 | But they've hit a big setback in their vision too, in their words, make America healthy again. |
| 1:18.5 | They've been stopped from making sweeping changes to vaccinations in America, particularly for children. |
| 1:25.1 | It's a big blow to the health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. |
| 1:27.9 | who had been given free reign by Donald Trump to go wild with health, as Trump put it. |
| 1:34.3 | What does it mean is going to happen now, particularly for America's children and for the future of American health? |
| 1:40.3 | Welcome to AmeriCast. |
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