RFK Jr. Canceled Flu Vaccine Campaign, Emails Show

‘This was a direct ask from Secretary Kennedy,’ one email stated.

Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 22, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed officials to cancel a campaign encouraging people to receive an influenza vaccine, according to newly released emails.

Nicole Coffin, a CDC official, wrote to colleagues on Feb. 14, 2025, that Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), had just called her “and asked that we pull out of circulation all campaign ad buys related to flu or anything encouraging shots or vaccinations.”

“He said this request came directly from the Secretary,” Coffin said.

The plan was to transform the agency’s messaging to focus on “informed consent,” she added later.

Kevin Griffis, another CDC official, questioned the decision. “Given this is the worst flu season in years, halting a campaign currently in the field presents significant reputational risk to the agency,” he told Coffin and others, including Kennedy adviser Stuart Burns, in another email.

That and other emails prompted Coffin to go back to Nixon and say that CDC leaders were under the impression “that HHS would not want CDC to stop all flu communication during a severe flu season but rather make sure informed consent is encouraged.”

Nixon said he would review content from the CDC, “but this was a direct ask from Secretary Kennedy.”

Coffin sent some examples of campaign messaging.

After a call, Coffin said that she had let CDC leadership know HHS was instructing the CDC to immediately pause the “Wild to Mild” campaign but that a different campaign called “Get My Flu Shot” could remain in place.

The CDC started the “Wild to Mild” campaign in 2023. It encouraged people to take a flu shot by describing the shot as a way to prevent “wild” symptoms, even if it would not prevent influenza infection.

The effectiveness of the flu vaccine varies widely from year to year, as the strain the vaccine contains sometimes does not match the strain that ends up circulating and infecting the most people. Effectiveness was 36 percent in late 2025 and early 2026, and 56 percent the prior virus season, according to CDC estimates.

The “Get My Flu Shot” campaign, launched in 2022 in collaboration with the Ad Council and American Medical Association, tells Americans that the flu vaccine helps prevent flu complications and transmission.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the ranking member of the Senate Health Committee, obtained and released the emails. His office said on June 25 that they showed that Kennedy had politicized HHS, ignored vaccine science, and “undermine[d] the basic health and safety of Americans.”

HHS and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the committee’s chairman, did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication.

Other Emails

The emails also showed that Kennedy had requested the CDC vaccine advisory panel to vote on narrowing recommendations for hepatitis B and influenza vaccination.

Hannah Anderson, at the time a Kennedy aide, said in a May 19, 2025, missive to CDC and HHS personnel that Kennedy asked that the committee, known as ACIP, vote on whether parents should only be advised to vaccinate certain newborns against hepatitis B.

He also wanted a vote on whether the CDC should only recommend influenza vaccines for pregnant women and children free of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative.

Kennedy, in 2025, fired all ACIP members and selected all the replacements.

ACIP that year voted to recommend the CDC narrow hepatitis B vaccination guidance to newborns born to mothers who tested positive for hepatitis B, or who did not know their hepatitis B status. ACIP also advised the CDC to stop recommending flu shots containing thimerosal. Officials adopted both recommendations. In January, the CDC also said that people should consult with health care professionals before receiving any influenza vaccine.

A federal judge in March blocked those updates, ruling that Kennedy had not followed proper procedure when reconstituting ACIP. The government has appealed the ruling.