Bill Maher has called for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr to resign, saying it 'pains' him to criticise the longtime vaccine sceptic but concluding 'he's got to go.'
Speaking on his HBO show Real Time, Maher reacted to Kennedy's testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, where the HHS chief defended his recent actions including firing the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and removing all 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee.
'I personally find this very disappointing because I am the person who was sympathetic to what he was trying to do,' Maher said. 'I said, finally we have a guy in there who cares about this stuff. But he's also just nutty.'
Maher agreed that the CDC needed a 'housecleaning' but questioned Kennedy's decision to fire all senior staff. 'Now you don't have that voice in there at all. You just have your voice,' he said.
Over 1,000 current and former HHS staff have signed an open letter accusing Kennedy of 'compromising the health of the nation' and demanding he step down. The letter calls on President Trump and Congress to appoint a new secretary who will base policy on independent science.
