Perhaps never before has a nomination for health and human services secretary generated as much attention and divisiveness as that of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Times Opinion invited experts and leaders across disciplines and ideologies to share questions they believe Mr. Kennedy must answer before serving in a role that oversees a $1.7 trillion budget and wields enormous influence over drug approvals, public health and the nation’s research agenda. The questions reveal the stakes surrounding his nomination and offer a view of the broader fault lines in American health policy.

Vaccines

1. In 2019, Samoa experienced a devastating measles epidemic, resulting in nearly 2,000 hospitalizations and 83 deaths, mostly among children under age 4. During this crisis, Mr. Kennedy, you visited Samoa, promoted anti-vaccine misinformation through your organization, Children’s Health Defense, and met with anti-vaccine activists, undermining trust in public health leaders. These actions contributed to declining vaccination rates and delays in lifesaving M.M.R. vaccinations.

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If confirmed as health secretary, you will bear responsibility for protecting vulnerable communities in the United States. If a vaccine-preventable outbreak happened here,66jogo how would you respond? — Dr. Nadine Tenn Salle, pediatrician and chief medical officer of the 2019 Hawaii medical response team to Samoa

2. You recently said that “if vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away.” However, as health secretary, you could appoint individuals who might try to change the childhood vaccine schedule or weaken recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the group of experts that provides vaccine guidance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These recommendations shape insurance coverage and school entry requirements.

Will you now commit to not using this kind of soft recall where certain vaccines remain technically available but are no longer widely recommended or reimbursed by insurance, making them effectively inaccessible to much of the public? — Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the C.D.C. and current chief executive of Resolve to Save Lives

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Directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo, the musical was first staged last December and January at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass. It features music and lyrics by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez and a book by Lisa Loomer, with additional material by Nell Benjamin.

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