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Key Points
- Caroline Kennedy has urged the US Senate to reject her cousin Robert F Kennedy Jr’s health secretary nomination.
- Caroline has labelled her cousin a ‘predator’ who is addicted to power.
- She says his views on vaccines are disqualifying.
“It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence,” she wrote. She also read the letter in a video recording, sharing it on social media. Attempts to reach Kennedy Jr for comment were not immediately successful.
She also pointed out that Kennedy Jr plans to still profit off a lawsuit against pharmaceutical company Merck over Gardasil, its human papillomavirus vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. In 2024, he made over $US850,000 ($1.4 million) from the arrangement.

Former US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy says her cousin is a ‘predator’. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
“In other words, he is willing to enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer and which has been safely administered to millions of boys and girls,” she wrote. She had previously not spoken about his candidacy or nomination for health secretary.
“Unlike Bobby, I try not to speak for my father — but I am certain that he and my uncle Bobby, who gave their lives in public services, and my uncle Teddy, who devoted his Senate career to improving health care, would be disgusted,” Kennedy wrote.

Another hearing for his nomination will be held on Wednesday in front of the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension — the committee his uncle, Ted Kennedy, once chaired.