RFK Jr. Is Absent at Tatiana Schlossberg’s N.Y.C. Funeral, Announcing Scaled-Back Child Vaccine Requirements While Family Mourns

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was notably absent from a large gathering of the Kennedy family in New York City on Monday, Jan. 5, as relatives came together to mourn the death of his cousin, Tatiana Schlossberg. She died on Dec. 30 at age 35, following a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia.

While funeral services were underway, the U.S. secretary of health and human services announced a major shift in national public health policy, unveiling changes to childhood vaccine recommendations.

That same day, the CDC released an updated immunization schedule for children, immediately reducing the recommended number of vaccines from 17 to 11.

In a CDC press release, Kennedy said President Donald Trump had “directed us to examine how other developed nations protect their children and to take action if they are doing better.” The statement added that Trump, 79, instructed the health secretary to align U.S. policy more closely with vaccine schedules used in countries such as Denmark, Germany and Japan.

Under the revised guidance, routine immunizations will continue to protect against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Hib, pneumococcal disease, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, HPV and chickenpox. Vaccines for RSV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue, meningococcal ACWY and meningococcal B will now be recommended only for high-risk groups. Parents seeking vaccinations for rotavirus, COVID-19, influenza, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A or hepatitis B will be advised to consult with a physician.

Shortly after the announcement, the official Department of Health and Human Services account on X posted a stylized video promoting Kennedy’s “MAHA” agenda. The clip opened with Trump stating that RFK Jr. would “help make America healthy again,” followed by footage of Kennedy walking in slow motion as animated laser beams shot from his eyes.

Set to techno music, on-screen text read, “America after becoming healthy again,” alongside a montage featuring Kennedy performing pull-ups, Trump golfing, and archival footage of Hulk Hogan tearing off his shirt.

The video was shared while Schlossberg’s funeral service was taking place.

Schlossberg publicly revealed her terminal cancer diagnosis in an essay published in The New Yorker in November 2025. In the piece, she sharply criticized her Trump-aligned cousin, describing him as “an embarrassment to me and the rest of my immediate family.”

The environmental journalist — the daughter of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, and the granddaughter of former President John F. Kennedy — focused much of her criticism on RFK Jr.’s views on vaccines. She wrote about how his appointment affected the health-care system she depended on while undergoing treatment.

“Suddenly, the health-care system on which I relied felt strained, shaky,” she wrote. “Doctors and scientists at Columbia, including George, didn’t know if they would be able to continue their research, or even have jobs.”

She added that Kennedy’s skepticism of vaccines left her deeply concerned about access to immunizations, particularly as an immunocompromised cancer patient. Schlossberg cited his past remark that “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective,” warning that such views could affect millions of vulnerable people, including cancer survivors, children and the elderly.

Schlossberg also wrote that before her diagnosis, she had planned to write a book about the oceans — both their destruction and their promise. One such promise, she noted, was cytarabine, a chemotherapy drug derived from research on a Caribbean Sea sponge. That discovery, she emphasized, was made possible through government funding — “the very thing that Bobby has already cut,” she wrote.

Kennedy did not attend the funeral at the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Schlossberg’s immediate family, including her parents and siblings Rose and Jack, were present, along with her husband, urologist George Moran, and their two young children, Edwin and Josephine.

Numerous other members of the Kennedy family attended, including Kerry Kennedy, Joe Kennedy III and Maria Shriver, who was seen leaving the service with three of her children: Christopher, Christina and Katherine Schwarzenegger.

Several prominent figures also came to pay their respects, among them David Letterman, fashion designer Carolina Herrera, former President Joe Biden and former secretary of state John Kerry.

The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue also holds special significance for the family, having hosted the 1994 funeral service for Schlossberg’s grandmother, Jacqueline Kennedy.