HARRISBURG, Pa. — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will host a rally in Harrisburg Wednesday to launch his "Take Back Your Health" tour after releasing new national nutrition guidelines, HHS officials said in a news release.

The rally will feature a number of Republican state legislators, including Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York, Rep. David Rowe, R-Union, and Rep. Robert Leadbeter, R-Columbia.

Kennedy's visit comes after a year of heavy pushback as he has overhauled major aspects of U.S. health policy, including the longstanding childhood vaccine schedule.

Kennedy announced new dietary guidelines earlier this month that flipped the traditional food pyramid on its head to promote consumption of whole foods, proteins, and some fats.

He is encouraging Americans to prioritize eating proteins and vegetables and reduce eating "highly processed foods" with "refined carbohydrates." This marks the first time U.S. dietary guidelines have explicitly called out what are also known as ultra-processed foods, a move supported by the American Medical Association and some other medical societies.

But other revisions received some pushback, such as the emphasis on foods high in saturated fats and vague guidance on alcohol consumption.

Kennedy was a longtime anti-vaccine activist before his appointment as top health leader under President Donald Trump. Elements of his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda have drawn intense criticism from medical experts, notably his overhaul of American vaccine recommendations, which flies in the face of decades of established medical evidence.

Federal officials announced in December that they will decrease the number of recommended childhood immunizations from 17 to 11. Some vaccines that protect against serious illnesses like rotavirus and hepatitis B are now only recommended for children at higher risk of health complications.

While officials said that parents of otherwise healthy children can still talk to their pediatricians about obtaining those vaccines, stunned pediatricians and infectious disease experts said the move will decrease vaccination coverage and increase cases of preventable illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.

The vaccine guidance changes came after Kennedy last year fired a committee of outside experts who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy, replacing the committee with a handpicked group that includes other vaccine critics.

Soon after, the White House fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, in part because she had refused to unquestioningly sign off on the new committee's recommendations.

The reconstituted panel subsequently changed recommendations on who should receive COVID-19 vaccines, prompting states like Pennsylvania to change their own policies around vaccine distribution to ensure continued access.

In November, the CDC website, which for years had noted that decades of research showed no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism, was updated to state the opposite.

The site now reads: "The claim 'vaccines do not cause autism' is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism." Public health experts again decried the decision.

Wednesday's rally will take place in the Main Rotunda of the State Capitol at 501 N. 3rd Street in Harrisburg.

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