Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reported receiving $4 million in advances for two books and gifts worth more than $250,000, including flights to Fiji and Greece and the use of a Washington, D.C., vacation home, according to a financial disclosure signed by an HHS ethics official on Sept. 17. The advances, $2 million for each book, came from Skyhorse Publishing. One planned title is “Unsettled Science.” Kennedy’s ethics agreement says he would not write, edit or promote books covered by his publishing agreements while serving in government. Government ethics specialists questioned why the advances were paid while Kennedy was in office. Kathleen Clark, a Washington University law professor who studies government ethics, called the arrangement unusual, given Kennedy’s commitment not to work on the books during his tenure. Virginia Canter of the Democracy Defenders Fund also raised questions about whether large payments to a senior public official could amount to prohibited salary supplementation. The gifts came from Gavin de Becker, a security adviser and longtime friend of Kennedy. De Becker said the families have vacationed together for years and that their travel and hosting arrangements began before Kennedy joined HHS. He said he has no involvement with the department. HHS said in a statement that Kennedy follows federal ethics laws and disclosure requirements and works with career ethics officials to handle financial interests, gifts and outside activities. The disclosure also records that Kennedy received $326,056 in salary and bonuses from Children’s Health Defense in the year before leaving his roles as the group’s chairman and chief legal counsel. Kennedy co-founded the anti-vaccine organization and spoke at its conference in Washington last week, telling attendees they had a “strong and steadfast friend at the White House.” The department did not respond to a detailed set of questions about the disclosure. Kennedy’s ethics agreement also bars him from promotional work tied to certain books he previously published with Skyhorse. In July, he promoted his 2021 book criticizing former federal infectious-disease official Anthony Fauci on his personal social media account, according to the report. Clark said that appeared inconsistent with the agreement. The annual disclosure was due May 15. Kennedy filed it Aug. 13 after receiving an extension, and it was revised four times in September before HHS ethics officials signed it. The separate Office of Government Ethics had not yet signed off, according to the report. The filing leaves a separate question about Kennedy’s past legal work involving Gardasil, Merck’s HPV vaccine. It lists a payment of nearly $7,000 from law firm Wisner Baum as a final referral-fee payment, but the firm said it was unrelated to the Gardasil litigation. Kennedy’s 2025 disclosure materials said he had planned to receive a 10% contingency fee in that case; he later agreed to assign rights to payments from outstanding contingency-fee cases to an adult family member. Merck and Wisner Baum have said Kennedy and his family received no fees from the Gardasil cases. Merck said the litigation was settled in June, but did not disclose the settlement amount. Kennedy’s financial disclosure and ethics commitments have drawn attention because HHS oversees federal health policy and agencies involved in vaccine guidance and regulation.