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** Monitoring RFK Jr.'s Confirmation Hearings
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As we wrote in a three-part series ([link removed]) in 2023, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is no stranger to FactCheck.org. He is a prominent anti-vaccine advocate who has been on our radar for years, primarily as the founder of Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit that spreads anti-vaccine misinformation.

This week, Kennedy, who stepped down from CHD in December, faced questions from senators during his confirmation hearings to be the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Two of our science writers, Jessica McDonald and Catalina Jaramillo, monitored his remarks and wrote ([link removed]) about several false and misleading claims we've chronicled before.

Kennedy distorted the facts when he said he had been called a "conspiracy theorist" because he "said that the vaccines, the COVID vaccine, didn’t prevent transmission and it wouldn’t prevent infection when the government was telling people, Americans, that it would,” adding, “Now everybody admits it.”

As Jessica and Catalina wrote: Vaccines do not have to prevent infection to be effective — and many do not. The primary goal of many vaccines is to prevent disease, including severe disease, which is the main function of the COVID-19 vaccines. When the Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccines, it warned that there wasn't evidence that they prevented transmission of the virus.

Kennedy also exaggerated chronic disease in kids, saying, "When my uncle was president, 2% of American kids had chronic disease. Today, 66% have chronic disease." Some chronic health conditions have been more commonly reported among children in the U.S. in recent decades. But experts say that Kennedy’s estimate, which he typically puts at 60%, is an overestimate. And no comparable data exists from the 1960s.

We explored that issue in a story last summer ([link removed]) .

On the second day of the hearings, Kennedy was repeatedly pressed on his insistence that vaccines may or do cause autism -- despite a whole body of research that has debunked the idea. "I just want to pledge to you that I will never stick on a point if somebody shows me data that says I'm wrong," he told senators.

But as our third science writer, Kate Yandell, has written before ([link removed]) , Kennedy has been making claims about vaccines causing autism or neurological disorders for 20 years, and the data showing he's wrong exists. Scientists have studied childhood vaccines and autism extensively — looking into multiple suggested components and vaccine types — and found no connection.

See this week's story for more: "Kennedy Repeats False and Misleading Claims in Confirmation Hearing ([link removed]) ."
JAN. 6 PARDONS
In defending his grant of clemency to all of the more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, President Donald Trump dismissed attacks on police, saying there were “very minor incidents” against law enforcement officers. Whether the attacks on police were “minor” is a matter of opinion, but more than 140 police officers were assaulted, according to the Justice Department. Injuries to the officers included cuts, bruises and sprains; concussions; rib fractures; irritated lungs; and a mild heart attack, according to statements by the police departments to media at the time. Several officers were hospitalized.
For more on this and other claims, see: "Trump Justifies J6 Pardons With Misinformation ([link removed]) ."
FEATURED FACTS
There's a big difference between the U.S. northern and southern borders when it comes to illegal immigration and seizures of fentanyl. In fiscal year 2024, there were more than 1.5 million Border Patrol apprehensions of people who illegally entered the U.S. through the border with Mexico, according to data published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and 23,721 apprehensions at the northern border with Canada. As for fentanyl in FY 2024, CBP data show that 21,148 pounds of fentanyl were seized by officials at the southwest border – the vast majority from people coming through legal ports of entry -- and 43 pounds were seized at the northern border. Read more: "Illegal Immigration and Fentanyl at the U.S. Northern and Southwest Borders ([link removed]) ."

REPLY ALL

Reader: Did the DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] stop a $50 million payment to Gaza for condoms?

FactCheck.org Director Lori Robertson: We got a lot of questions about this after President Donald Trump and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that during a freeze on aid to other nations, the administration had blocked $50 million that was going to be spent on condoms for Gaza. Assignment Editor Alan Jaffe looked into it and found that the claim was unsupported.

The administration "has provided no evidence that $50 million was ever directed toward condoms for Gaza. The contractor identified by the State Department said it has not used U.S. aid 'to procure or distribute condoms,'” Alan wrote.

He further explained in his story that the White House has pointed to statements on X by State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, who gave the example of "unjustified" spending on "condoms" being stopped. "Prevented $102 million in unjustified funding to a contractor in Gaza, including money for contraception," Bruce wrote.

The Washington Post reported that Bruce's office said the reference was to $102 million in funding for the International Medical Corps in Gaza.

In his story, Alan wrote:

Todd Bernhardt, a spokesperson for the International Medical Corps, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that responds to emergency medical needs around the world, emailed a statement to us addressing questions about its services.

The organization has received more than $68 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to support IMC’s medical operations in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, the statement said. That funding has supported the operation of two field hospitals that treat about 33,000 patients each month.

Since January 2024, the statement said, the organization “has provided healthcare to more than 383,000 civilians who had no other access to services or treatment, including performing about 11,000 surgeries, with one-third of those categorized as major or moderate procedures. We have assisted in the delivery of some 5,000 babies, about 20% of them via cesarean section. In addition, International Medical Corps has screened 111,000 people for malnutrition, treated 2,767 for acute malnutrition, distributed micronutrient supplements to 36,000 people, and more.”

“No government funding was used to procure or distribute condoms,” the statement said.

Read Alan's full story: "Trump Administration Makes Unsupported Claim About $50 Million for Condoms to Gaza ([link removed]) ."


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* Q&A on Trump’s Impending Exit from the World Health Organization ([link removed]) : As part of a rash of executive orders completed on his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump began the nation’s exit from the World Health Organization. Here, we explain how the withdrawal would work and what it would mean, both domestically and abroad. We also fact-check the president on his claims about WHO funding.

* Trump Order Didn’t Reverse All of Biden’s Measures to Lower Drug Costs ([link removed]) : President Donald Trump rescinded an executive order issued by former President Joe Biden aimed at finding new models for lowering drug costs. Trump’s action didn’t affect the caps on seniors’ drug costs or Medicare price negotiations that Biden signed into law. But social media posts have wrongly claimed otherwise.

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