Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s health agencies, formally asked the Food and Drug Administration to revoke the authorization of all COVID-19 vaccines during a deadly phase of the pandemic when thousands of Americans were still dying every week.

Kennedy filed a petition with the FDA in May 2021 demanding that officials rescind authorization for the shots and refrain from approving any COVID-19 vaccine in the future.

Just six months earlier, Trump had declared the COVID-19 vaccines a miracle. At the time that Kennedy filed the petition, half of American adults were receiving their shots. Schools were reopening and churches were filling.