In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.

Cuts to funding and personnel at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are endangering the public’s health and threatening to disrupt the development of lifesaving vaccines, said former CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky at the Boston Globe Summit on Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed new initiatives for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including a program to increase hepatitis B screening for pregnant women,