'Gaslighting of Lyme patients is over': RFK Jr. promises renewed focus [View all]

Source: USA Today

Updated Dec. 15, 2025, 6:41 p.m. ET


Heath Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised a renewed focus on the “diagnostic efforts” for tick-borne Lyme disease, describing it on Dec. 15 as an “invisible” illness that he claims has been ignored by previous White House administrations. Kennedy made the comments as he convened a roundtable of patients and medical providers.

Just one year ago before he was confirmed as the health secretary in February, Kennedy promoted a conspiracy theory that Lyme disease is a militarily engineered bioweapon. In 2024, Kennedy said on his podcast that it was “highly likely” that Lyme disease was developed in a military lab on Long Island, New York. "And we cannot say 100% for sure, but we do know that they were experimenting with ticks there," he said.

He was asked about his comment about it being a "bioweapon" by Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado during his confirmation hearing in January. “I probably did say that,” Kennedy responded. His conspiracy theories claiming vaccines cause autism, linking antidepressants to school shootings and even suggesting WiFi causes cancer have alarmed healthcare professionals and Democratic lawmakers.

On Monday during the roundtable, Kennedy asserted - without proof - that officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had claimed Lyme disease "did not exist." The Center for Diseases Control and Prevention for years has published a web page devoted to Lyme disease, detailing symptoms and treatment.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/15/rfk-jr-lyme-disease-diagnostic-efforts/87783418007/