On February 13, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and he was confirmed 52 to 48. Kennedy fired the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, and his department cut the CDC's workforce and completed the U.S. exit from the World Health Organization. Collins also voted to confirm NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, whose agency canceled thousands of research grants, and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, whose agency narrowed who can get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Before her vote, Collins said Kennedy had told her he would help restore Americans' confidence in vaccines, and in 2026 the country had the largest surge in measles cases in the United States in more than 30 years. In Maine, the Maine CDC laid off dozens of workers when federal public health contracts ended, and Mainers who want a COVID-19 shot at a pharmacy need a prescription.
Susan Collins's Confirmation Votes and Votes on the CDC, Vaccines and Medical Research
- Collins Voted to Confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Whose Department Fired the Vaccine Advisers and Cut the CDC by 30 Percent. On February 13, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and he was confirmed 52 to 48. In June 2025 Kennedy dismissed all 17 sitting members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, a step KFF notes no previous Secretary had taken; the new committee voted to end the 34-year-old recommendation that all newborns get the hepatitis B vaccine. In January 2026 HHS tried to cut the routine childhood vaccine list from 13 to 7, and the HHS changes to the childhood vaccination schedule remain blocked by a federal judge. The CDC lost 30%, or more than 3,800 employees, between March 2025 and May 2026, according to a union dashboard built on federal personnel data. In March 2025 the department also moved to pull back $11.4 billion that states were using for disease tracking, labs and vaccination.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Health Secretary Who Completed the U.S. Exit From the World Health Organization. Susan Collins voted to confirm Kennedy on February 13, 2025, and on January 22, 2026 his department and the State Department completed the withdrawal from the World Health Organization that President Trump had ordered, AP reported. Officials acknowledged the U.S. had lost access to data from other countries that could give America an early warning of disease threats and is no longer participating in global flu information-sharing that guides vaccine choices; the Infectious Diseases Society of America warned this will severely hamper efforts to match vaccines to circulating flu strains.
- Collins Voted to Confirm Jay Bhattacharya as NIH Director During the Largest Wave of Research Grant Cancellations on Record. On March 25, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health, and he was confirmed 53 to 47. Between February and August 2025 the agency terminated 2,291 active grants, rescinding $2.45 billion; in the 13 years before 2025, the NIH terminated fewer than six grants midstream, according to the Congressional Research Service. The cuts interrupted nearly 1 in 30 clinical trials, affecting more than 74,000 patients in research on cancer, infectious disease and other conditions. In April 2026, while also overseeing the CDC, Bhattacharya held back publication of a CDC study on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine, KFF reported.
- Collins Voted to Confirm FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, Whose Agency Narrowed Access to COVID-19 Vaccines. On March 25, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Martin Makary as Commissioner of Food and Drugs, and he was confirmed 56 to 44. In 2025 the FDA limited the approval to persons 65 and older and people with high-risk conditions, after earlier approvals covered everyone 6 months and older, and more than 3,500 FDA employees were laid off, leaving inspectors saying you can’t inspect as many sites where drugs are made.
- Collins Voted to Confirm Jim O'Neill, Who Ran the CDC as It Dropped Vaccine Coverage Rules. On June 5, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm Jim O'Neill as Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. After the White House removed Monarez as CDC director in August 2025, O'Neill led the agency, which stopped recommending the combined MMRV shot for young children, so insurers will no longer be required to cover this vaccine at no-cost, and posted a page saying studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.
- Collins Voted Against Protecting Bird Flu Response Staff and Funding in February 2025. On February 21, 2025, Susan Collins voted no on a budget resolution amendment relating to preventing reductions in funding and staffing necessary to respond to, control, and prevent avian flu. It failed 47 to 53. In May 2025 the Department of Health and Human Services terminated a $590 million award to develop a bird flu vaccine, amid continued circulation of H5N1 in US dairy cattle, poultry flocks, and in July the CDC ended its emergency response for H5N1 bird flu, a step KFF said can slow identification of outbreaks.
- Collins Voted Against Sparing Global Disease Programs From the 2025 Rescission. On July 16, 2025, Susan Collins voted no on Senator Adam Schiff's amendment to reduce the amount rescinded from Global Health programs to preserve funding for programs addressing diseases, which would have cut the global health rescission from $500 million to $66 million (Congressional Record). It failed 46 to 51. USAID, which ran most of these programs, shut down after cancelling 83% of its programs; a study in The Lancet projected that if all the aid cuts stand, somewhere between 8 and 19 million people could die by 2030, a projection that covers all the cuts, not this rescission alone.
- Collins Said Kennedy Would Help Restore Confidence in Vaccines; Measles Then Hit a 30-Year High. Explaining her vote on February 11, 2025, Susan Collins said Kennedy told her he believed in the polio vaccine and said he would help restore Americans' confidence in vaccines and our health agencies, the Sun Journal reported. In 2026, the U.S. has reported nearly 3,887 confirmed cases of measles as of October 1, more than in any year since 1991, and only 92.4% of kindergarteners had been vaccinated against measles, below the 95 percent needed to stop spread; as cases rose, Kennedy called vaccination a personal choice.
- Collins Did Not Say Why She Considered Kennedy Qualified. Before the confirmation vote, Susan Collins did not respond to questions about why she thinks Kennedy is qualified, the Portland Press Herald reported on February 11, 2025, in a story the Sun Journal published. By August 2025, over 20,000 jobs at HHS have already been cut, KFF reported, including at the CDC, which helps states such as Maine track outbreaks.
What the Health Agency Cuts Under the Officials Susan Collins Confirmed Mean for Maine
- Maine CDC. The Maine CDC says $91 million in federal U.S. public health contracts to the state ended on March 24, 2025, and dozens of workers were laid off. Maine joined the states' lawsuit against the cuts, and in states that sued, nearly 80% of the CDC grant cuts have been restored, KFF Health News reported in August 2025; the layoffs had already taken effect.
- COVID-19 vaccine. After the FDA narrowed approval and the vaccine committee delayed its advice, eligible Mainers who want to get the shot at a pharmacy will need a prescription, Maine Public reported in September 2025.
- University research. By May 2025, nearly $50 million in federal funding to Maine’s public university system had been paused, withdrawn or left in limbo across federal agencies, and the system warned of layoffs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Collins on Science and public health
What is Susan Collins's record on science and public health under Trump?
Susan Collins voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose department fired the CDC's vaccine advisers, cut the CDC's staff by 30 percent and left the World Health Organization, and she voted to confirm NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary. She voted against budget measures to protect bird flu response funding and global disease programs. In Maine, the Maine CDC laid off dozens of workers when federal contracts ended in March 2025.
Did Susan Collins vote to confirm RFK Jr.?
Yes. Susan Collins voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services on February 13, 2025, and he was confirmed 52 to 48. In a 2026 KFF poll, six in ten disapprove (61%) of the administration's handling of vaccine policy.
What happened to medical research funding under the NIH director Susan Collins confirmed?
Susan Collins voted to confirm Jay Bhattacharya on March 25, 2025, and research grant success rates fell to 13% in FY2025 compared with 19% in FY2024, according to the Congressional Research Service, so fewer new studies were funded. The Government Accountability Office found that HHS had violated the Impoundment Control Act by withholding NIH funds, the CRS report notes.
Last updated: 2026-10-25