RFK Jr. would retain stake in HPV vaccine lawsuit if confirmed

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick to be health secretary, retains his financial stake in major litigation against Merck over a widely used vaccine given to young people, according to an ethics agreement made public Wednesday and court documents. That conflict of interest could raise questions for lawmakers as Mr. Kennedy aims to run agencies that regulate the drugmaker.

The ethics document says Mr. Kennedy would continue to collect fees for cases in which he referred clients to Wisner Baum, a law firm suing Merck over Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against the human papilloma virus , or HPV. The vaccine is given to adolescents to prevent cervical cancer and other cancers later in life.

The deal with Wisner Baum, which also includes other issues, has earned Mr. Kennedy, one of the nation’s fiercest vaccine critics, more than $2.5 million over the past two years, according to records filed with federal election officials for his presidential campaign and the deal, approved by the Office of Government Ethics as part of the confirmation process. That sum is much higher than about $200,000, the latest salary figure for the Health and Human Services secretary, according to a former agency spokesperson.

“I am entitled to receive 10 percent of the fees awarded in contingency fee cases submitted to the firm,” Mr. Kennedy said in the ethics filing. He wrote that he was not an attorney in any of these cases.

The agreement states that Mr. Kennedy can retain contingent interests in cases that the Department of Health and Human Services’ ethics office determines do not involve the federal government. It will divest its interests in cases that do so, such as those brought under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Mr. Kennedy has spoken out against what he sees as corruption and conflicts of interest in government and the pharmaceutical industry. He has pledged to eliminate what he calls “regulatory capture” — the close ties between industry and government, particularly drugmakers and the Food and Drug Administration.