Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in his first address to employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, said a new presidential commission would scrutinize childhood vaccine schedules, psychiatric medications and other frequent targets of his suspicion as part of his efforts to fight chronic disease.
“Nothing is going to be off limits,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Mr. Kennedy’s 22-minute address was not public; The Times watched via video link.
Mr. Kennedy used the address to also extend an olive branch, urging his new colleagues to set aside the partisanship and vitriol that surrounded his nomination. He promised to keep an open mind, continue asking “difficult questions” and listen to “all the stakeholders” — especially those with whom he has disagreed.
“Let’s all depoliticize these issues and reestablish a common ground for action, and renew the search for existential truth with no political impediments and no preconceptions,” he said, adding, “I promise to be willing to be wrong.”
In a signal of how he plans to use his new authority, Mr. Kennedy also made clear that he would prod the department, and the “Make America Healthy Again” commission established by President Trump that he will lead, to prioritize topics he cares about but that he said were “formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized” by mainstream scientists.
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who is among Mr. Kennedy’s most vocal critics, said the remarks suggested that Mr. Kennedy did, in fact, have preconceived notions.