Even if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as the next Health and Human Services secretary, he plans to charge Wisner Baum law firm, which is suing Merck, saying the drug company failed to properly warn consumers Information about HPV risks The vaccine is called Gardasil, according to new documents filed with the Office of Government Ethics.

Kennedy will collect fees only if Wisner-baum wins, and only in cases that are not against the United States or in which the United States is not a party and has no "direct or material interest." Filing.

"Under the referral agreement, I am entitled to 10 percent of the fees paid in contingent fee cases referred to the firm," Kennedy wrote in the ethics agreement he signed. "I will not try these cases, I am not one of those attorney of record in the cases, and I will not provide representation in connection with these cases while I am appointed Secretary of State.”

The documents, submitted to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics as part of the confirmation process, detail Kennedy's many financial assets and interests. If he becomes Health and Human Services secretary and continues to collect fees, he will likely profit from vaccine lawsuits while also regulating drugmakers and exercising authority over federal vaccine policy.

"Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s ethics agreement is inadequate because it does not address bias stemming from his ongoing financial interest in the lawsuit against Merck," said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in government ethics Clark wrote in a letter to NPR.

Neither Kennedy's spokesman nor the Trump transition team immediately responded to repeated requests for comment.

The documents and their connection to the Gardasil vaccine lawsuit were first published by New York Times.

The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Wednesday, January 29, to consider Kennedy's nomination to run HHS.

On Kennedy's profile page on the Wisner Baum website, he is first identified as "co-counsel with Wisner Baum in the Gardasil litigation," and he has used his platform on social media and through his nonprofit to promote the lawsuit and He has concerns about vaccines against the human papillomavirus.

HPV is a very common sexually transmitted virus that can cause cancer later in life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends two doses of HPV vaccine for children ages 11 to 12, saying the vaccine provides safe, effective and long-lasting protection against HPV infection.

According to Kennedy's personal financial disclosure report, he received $856,559 in referral fees from law firms. On top of that, he received $326,056 in salary and benefits from the nonprofit Children's Health Defense, which Kennedy chairs and is influential in the anti-vaccination movement. The nonprofit has filed nearly 30 federal and state lawsuits since 2020, some against the federal agencies he will oversee at HHS. Many of the legal actions taken by CHD challenge vaccines and public health directives.

Kennedy took an unpaid leave from the organization in April 2023 when he announced he was running for president, and resigned from CHD in December 2024, the documents said.

The documents also show that Kennedy declared $8,848,402 in partnership profits from the law firm Kennedy and Madonna, LLP, which has since been renamed Madonna and Madonna, LLP. He "received the final partnership payment in May 2024," the filing said. He also makes money from another law firm, publishing, and various other fees from speaking engagements and endorsements.

Editing by Scott Hensley and Jane Greenhalgh