The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says claims that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kept a financial interest in Gardasil vaccine litigation are false. "Any claim that Secretary Kennedy maintained a financial interest in this litigation after taking office is false," HHS spokeswoman Emily G. Hilliard said, according to the Associated Press report on the senators' questions, published Sept. 25.
The statement responded to four Democratic senators who asked why Kennedy assigned his share of fees from the HPV vaccine cases to his former law firm, Wisner Baum, instead of to his adult son, as his amended ethics agreement had described. The senators said the change was not disclosed to Congress or the public for 18 months. The AP reported that Kennedy's son Conor Kennedy works at Wisner Baum.
