RFK Jr.'s Bully Pulpit Provides Path to Crimp Job Vax Mandates

Health-care companies and other employers that encourage or require their workers to get vaccinated will likely face headwinds if anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wins Senate approval to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services, health law scholars said.

Kennedy would have few options to directly affect workplace vaccine mandates, which are governed by the at-will employment doctrine that’s in place in nearly every state. That doctrine gives companies broad latitude to fire workers for any legal reason, including failure to comply with an inoculation requirement.

But Kennedy could still influence vaccines in employment—first and foremost, by ...