Prof. Richard Painter Quoted in Vanity Fair About RFK Jr.’s Upcoming Confirmation Hearing

Professor Richard Painter, S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law, was quoted in Vanity Fair about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Senate confirmation hearings this week to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The new administration’s first round of health policy moves have alarmed physicians and public health experts on both sides of the aisle. One of several developments that stood out is the financial disclosure that showed RFK Jr.’s claims that his anti-vaccine work at Children’s Health Defense was “unpaid” and the “opposite of a profit motive” proved to be untrue. In fact, he’d received a total of $1.2 million from the nonprofit. In addition, he reached an unusual agreement with the Office of Government Ethics in which he would retain a 10% stake in litigation he’d helped develop against Merck and its Gardasil vaccine, which protects against the human papillomavirus, which can cause cervical and other cancers. Ethics experts were stunned by the deal, which would allow him to profit, even while serving as the top regulator over not just Merck but the entire vaccine industry. Regarding this development, Prof. Painter called the arrangement “hugely unusual,” and that this alone should merit a “No” vote in senate confirmation hearings.