Recently appointed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 2018 helped bring several cases against vaccine maker Merck, alleging injury linked to its HPV shot Gardasil.
Merck and a plaintiff suing the pharma have agreed to suspend a trial connected with the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, according to an exclusive Tuesday report from Reuters.
The case is connected to newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who in 2018 helped spearhead a mass legal action against Merck, as per a separate Reuters exclusive published last month. Citing two lawyers familiar with the matter, Reuters at the time reported that Kennedy had worked with vaccines injury attorney Robert Krakow, who alleged that Merck had misled customers, convincing them that Gardasil was safe and more effective than it actually was.
Kennedy at the time helped persuade several “influential” lawyers to take up cases against Merck, according to the January Reuters story.
Meanwhile, in its article on Tuesday, the publication reported that counsel for the plaintiff had approached Merck proposing to adjourn the suit and discharge the current jury. In a text message to Reuters, lawyer Mark Lanier said that the confirmation hearings played into the decision to suspend the trial, noting that he did not know whether Kennedy’s testimony in front of the Senate would affect the jurors or not.
Merck agreed to Lanier’s proposal, with the explicit requirement that it “would provide no financial or other consideration.” The parties are scheduled to meet and convene a new jury in September, by which point Lanier expects a new study on Gardasil to have been published, as per Reuters.
Kennedy was formally appointed last week as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In this post, he will have authority over the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which oversees complaints of potential side effects from people who received certain covered vaccines. Injuries associated with human papillomavirus vaccines are covered by the compensation process.
Kennedy’s confirmation came amid strong controversy regarding his documented history of being critical of vaccines and pushing many unsubstantiated health claims. In hearings before the senate finance and health committees, several lawmakers blasted Kennedy, accusing him of “peddling half-truths,” as Senator Michael Bennet (D-Co) put it, pointing to a previous interview where Kennedy called Lyme disease a military weapon.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a physician, made his dilemma known during the second day of Kennedy’s hearing, calling him someone “who spent decades criticizing vaccines, and who’s financially vested in finding fault with vaccines.” Cassidy at the time said that for his vote, he needed to first determine if Kennedy could “change his attitudes and approach now that he’ll have the most important position” affecting vaccine policy in the country. Cassidy ended up falling in line with his party and voting to confirm Kennedy.
