Kennedy Would Keep Stake in HPV Vaccine Suit if Confirmed

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick to be health secretary, is keeping his financial stake in major litigation against Merck over a widely used vaccine given to young people, according to an ethics agreement made public on Wednesday and court documents. That conflict of interest could raise questions for lawmakers as Mr. Kennedy aims to run agencies that regulate the drugmaker.

The ethics document said Mr. Kennedy would continue to collect fees for cases in which he referred clients to Wisner Baum, a law firm suing Merck over Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against the human papillomavirus, or HPV. The vaccine is administered to adolescents to prevent cervical and other cancers later in life.

The arrangement with Wisner Baum, which also includes other matters, has earned Mr. Kennedy, one of the nation’s fiercest vaccine critics, more than $2.5 million in the past two years, according to records filed with federal election officials for his presidential run and the agreement, approved by the Office of Government Ethics as part of the confirmation process. That sum is far higher than about $200,000, the latest salary figure for the health and human services secretary, according to a former agency spokesman.

“I am entitled to receive 10 percent of fees awarded in contingency fee cases referred to the firm,” Mr. Kennedy said in the ethics filing. He wrote that he is not a lawyer in any of the cases.

The agreement says Mr. Kennedy may retain a contingency fee interest in cases that the ethics office of the Department of Health and Human Services determines do not involve the federal government. He will divest his interest in cases that do, such as those brought through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Mr. Kennedy has railed against what he deems corruption and conflicts of interest in government and the pharmaceutical industry. He has vowed to root out what he calls “regulatory capture” — the close ties between industry and government, especially drugmakers and the Food and Drug Administration.