A Big Pharma lobbying group has stated that it is “aligned” with President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mission to “Make America Health Again” after a leaked document suggested the group schemed to oust Kennedy and separate him from Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.
“It’s time to go to the Hill and lobby that it is time for RFK Jr. to go,” reads a document that appears to contain notes from an April 3, 2025, meeting of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s Vaccine Policy Steering Committee. The document notes that investor confidence in vaccine development has been shaken. It also claims the committee’s members voiced “widespread concern over RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine stance” and that “members view him as a direct threat to public health.”
“Earlier today, a blog site posted an article based upon what it claimed is a leaked memo from BIO regarding our Vaccines Task Force,” a BIO spokesman told The Daily Signal on Wednesday. “The purported memo was not produced by BIO. We have never seen or heard of this document, and it certainly does not accurately represent the spirit, strategy, or mission of BIO’s work.”
“We are aligned with [Health and Human Services] Secretary Kennedy and the President’s mission to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’” the spokesman added. “We also believe strongly in the vital role that vaccines play for public health, and we will continue to be strong advocates for scientific rigor and the importance of vaccines to protect our children, our citizens broadly—and to protect and strengthen America.”
He directed The Daily Signal to the website www.whywevaccinate.org for more information. He declined to confirm or deny the veracity of the quote about lobbying for Kennedy’s ouster.
Jeffrey Tucker, founder and president of the Brownstone Institute, which published the document, noted that his organization published it before its contents had been “publicly authenticated by the named parties.”
“Brownstone published the document with all provisos concerning its provenance,” Tucker told The Daily Signal on Wednesday. “The statement from BIO that it supports RFK’s MAHA agenda is, of course, welcome.”
“The memo in question was obtained from a source I consider credible,” James Lyons-Weiler, the author of the Brownstone post sharing the document, told The Daily Signal. “However, recognizing the importance of rigorous scrutiny, I included explicit caveats when sharing it—making clear that its authenticity has not been independently verified and that it is up to the reader to assess its validity.”
Lyons-Weiler said he would include BIO’s denial “alongside the original publication.” He added, “I will not disclose the source, consistent with long-established protections of source confidentiality—a core principle of press freedom.”
“I welcome further documentation, clarification, or corrections from the organization or others with firsthand knowledge,” he said. “My commitment is not to any narrative, but to truth-seeking through open inquiry.”
The Daily Signal reached out to organizations named in the document, seeking corroboration or denial of its contents. This article will be updated with any responses received.
BioCentury, a pharma news company, wrote that it “confirmed that the memo, which appears to be minutes taken by a participant, describes an April 3 [Vaccine Policy Steering Committee] meeting, and has confirmed the accuracy of elements of the memo.”
“Individuals briefed on the April 3 meeting told BioCentury that the memo’s assertion that BIO planned to lobby Congress to oust Kennedy does not reflect the trade association’s policy or plans,” BioCentury Washington Editor Steve Usdin wrote.
The document outlines a two-part strategy to promote vaccines—the public “Why We Vaccinate” campaign and an effort to engage conservatives inside and outside the administration.
The document mentions Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz; American Enterprise Institute fellow and former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb; former Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.; and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
Cassidy, a physician, chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. “We had no knowledge or involvement in any such memo,” Ty Bofferding, a senior adviser for the committee, told The Daily Signal on Wednesday.
The document cites Vaxcyte Executive Vice President Jim Wassil as saying that “investors are sitting on the sidelines for [the] next 6-9 months” and that “vaccine pathway to approval is unpredictable and politicized.”
It cites BIO President and CEO John Crowley as saying that vaccines are the organization’s “#1 priority,” and that they represent a “canary in the coal mine” with respect “to gauging [the Department of Health and Human Services’] anticipated actions.”
It cites Gottlieb as saying that the “MAHA movement is a cover for an anti-vaccine campaign.”
Gottlieb reportedly emphasized the need to “differentiate between anti-vaccine/vaccine hesitancy (‘movable middle’) [and] anti-vaccine mandate groups.” (Those who oppose vaccine mandates may or may not express hesitancy about vaccines overall.) He also reportedly said he was “not convinced” the relationship between Trump and Kennedy “will break” because “there are non-vaccine issues, such as food safety, within MAHA.”
He also reportedly described Oz as a “public health voice of reason” within the White House, because he is “deeply scientific and public health minded” and has a “strong health care team.”
“I have no doubt that this is real,” Jeffrey Rose, a volunteer with the MAHA Institute, said of the document in a phone interview with The Daily Signal on Wednesday. “This is something to be expected that this industry would undermine him in any way possible.”
Rose, a clinical hypnotist, nutritionist, and sleep specialist who has been a longtime friend of Kennedy, suggested Gottlieb is “just doing the bidding for Big Pharma.”
“Apparently, he doesn’t understand that making America healthy again requires deep inquiry into every aspect of America’s medical system and lifestyles, and that includes looking at root causes, like food; sleep deprivation; pesticides; air, water, soil pollution; and yes, vaccines, as well,” the MAHA advocate added.