RFK Jr. Aims to Access Americans' Medical Records for Vaccine Research

WHO:

CNN - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the U.S. health secretary pursuing access to Americans' medical records.

CNN - William “Reyn” Archer III is a senior adviser to Kennedy and a former Texas health official.

CNN - Jaime Bland is the former CEO of CyncHealth, the Nebraska health information exchange.

CNN - Craig Behm runs the Maryland health information exchange.

CNN - Emily Hilliard is a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

CNN - Daniel Jernigan is a former top CDC official.

WHAT:

CNN - Kennedy stated, “We’ve had to go to the states and, luckily, we’ve got a lot of cooperation from the states, but we now have databases together that we can actually do the studies on. Those studies are in motion.”

CNN - HHS has not publicly announced any new projects involving medical records and autism or vaccine research.

CNN - Kennedy faced blowback last year when he proposed compiling the medical records of people with autism to create a federal disease registry — which health department officials later disputed was underway.

CNN - Kennedy said in May, “We have a whole pipeline of studies that will be done over the next year.”

CNN - CyncHealth retained $2.4 million of the funding for Kennedy’s project; the remaining money was distributed to “other participating states and various vendor organizations for implementation support.”

CNN - The federal government would pay the exchanges for furnishing the records, according to the proposal: $3 a person, annually.

CNN - Kennedy stated, “We need a good health record system, and one of the things that really surprised me most when I came into office is that there is — that the systems are broken.”

CNN - Kennedy said in May, “We have a whole pipeline of studies that will be done over the next year.”

The Guardian - Three scientific papers used by Kennedy to justify changes to vaccine policies have been removed, retracted, or placed under investigation by the journals that published them.

The Guardian - The paper by Neil Z Miller, published in 2021, suggested a link between vaccines and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and has been retracted due to serious methodological flaws.

The Guardian - The paper published in 2020 by Sage Open Medicine, co-authored by Miller and Brian S Hooker, is under investigation after an expression of concern was attached on May 18.

The Guardian - The paper by Carolyn M Gallagher and Melody S Goodman, published in 2010, was retracted on May 21 after an independent statistical reviewer identified fundamental methodological flaws.

CNN - Kennedy is seeking federal government access to most Americans' medical records to research a link between vaccines and autism.

CNN - Millions of dollars in grant money have been allocated to a Nebraska nonprofit assisting Kennedy's effort.

CNN - HHS has not publicly announced any new projects involving medical records and autism or vaccine research.

CNN - Nebraska's state health department was awarded $18.7 million from the CDC, the most of any state last year.

CNN - CyncHealth received three contracts totaling $13.6 million from the Nebraska state health department.

CNN - Kennedy stated, “We have a whole pipeline of studies that will be done over the next year.”

WHERE:

CNN - The initiative involves health information exchanges in various states, including Nebraska and Maryland.

WHEN:

CNN - A proposal was made in October for a new surveillance system to provide real-time data feeds by 2028.

CNN - CyncHealth was awarded contracts on January 9 and January 16.

WHY:

CNN - Kennedy believes medical records are essential for investigating the causes of autism, vaccine safety, and chronic diseases.

CNN - Public health leaders have raised concerns about the legality and usefulness of granting access to Kennedy's team.

HOW:

CNN - A proposal was made in October for a new surveillance system to provide real-time data feeds by 2028.

CNN - The state organizations followed up with a pitch in October for a new surveillance system that would give the federal health department “real-time, 24-hour data feeds on opioid and chronic disease trends” within a year, according to a presentation reviewed by KFF Health News. Under the proposal, HHS would get data from 90% of the population’s medical records by 2028.

CNN - HHS has been meeting with leaders of state-run health information exchange systems to discuss the use of personal medical records for vaccine research.

CNN - The proposal includes a federated trust model to deliver real-time data for HHS missions, with a payment of $3 per person annually for data access.

(UPDATED June 5, 2026 01:42 UTC)

Kennedy announced that they are currently collaborating with various states to compile databases for studies related to autism and vaccine research, which he noted are already in motion. While the Department of Health and Human Services has not publicly unveiled any new projects in this area, Kennedy mentioned that a proposal for a new surveillance system aims to provide real-time data feeds on health trends by 2028. The initiative, which includes health information exchanges in states like Nebraska and Maryland, is designed to give the federal health department access to data from 90% of the population's medical records within that timeframe.

(UPDATED June 4, 2026 21:28 UTC)

Kennedy emphasized the urgent need for a reliable health record system, expressing surprise at the broken systems he encountered upon taking office. He also mentioned that a series of studies are set to be completed over the next year, while CyncHealth has retained $2.4 million for his project, with the rest allocated to other states and vendors for implementation support. Meanwhile, three scientific papers that Kennedy referenced to support changes in vaccine policies have been retracted or are under investigation, including a 2021 paper linking vaccines to sudden infant death syndrome, which was retracted due to serious methodological flaws.

(UPDATED June 4, 2026 19:43 UTC)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary, is pursuing access to Americans' medical records to research a potential link between vaccines and autism, with millions in grant money allocated to support this initiative. His efforts involve collaboration with various health information exchanges, including those in Nebraska and Maryland, and he has stated that a series of studies will be conducted over the next year. However, public health leaders have expressed concerns regarding the legality and usefulness of granting access to Kennedy's team, while the Department of Health and Human Services has not announced any new projects related to this research.