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Kristi Noem was hospitalized for an allergic reaction one day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared a photo of them both visiting a biosafety lab that was temporarily shut down due to safety concerns.
“With @Sec_Noem and @SenRandPaul inspecting the biological hazard labs at Fort Detrick,” the Health and Human Services Secretary posted, sharing an image of himself with Noem and GOP Sen. Rand Paul at the Integrated Research Facility in Frederick, Maryland.
On Tuesday, Noem was taken to the hospital by ambulance for an “allergic reaction,” DHS’ Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Beast in a statement.
“She was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution. She is alert and recovering,” McLaughlin said.
It’s not clear what prompted the allergic reaction, and there’s nothing to suggest the incident was anything more than a bizarre coincidence.
Noem is yet to comment on her condition publicly.
The Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick studies viruses “causing high-consequence disease” such as Ebola and SARS-CoV-2, according to its site. One of its focus areas is to “mitigate major public health events related to emerging or reemerging infectious diseases or biological weapons attacks.”
The MAHA Institute, a think tank supporting Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, posted on X earlier that Noem, Paul, and Kennedy had toured the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases biosecurity lab at Fort Detrick on Monday.
The offices of Noem, Paul and Kennedy did not immediately return requests for comment.
Kennedy’s department ordered an indefinite work stoppage at the lab in April.
A spokesperson for NIH told WIRED at the time that the safety stand-down “follows identification and documentation of personnel issues involving contract staff that compromised the facility’s safety culture.”
An unnamed HHS official told Fox News the incident stemmed from a “lover’s spat” between researchers at the facility, which allegedly resulted in one of the people poking holes in the other’s personal protective equipment.
Kennedy told a Senate committee in May the FBI was investigating it as a potentially “deliberate criminal act” because the pathogens the individuals were handling were highly dangerous. He said he intended to visit the facility with Noem.
Democrats last week pressed Kennedy’s office for more answers on the research pause, noting that scientists at the Integrated Research Facility “study some of the most dangerous pathogens and viruses to prevent, address, and eradicate high-consequence and deadly diseases,” and that safety measures there “are of the utmost importance for our constituents in the surrounding communities.”
The letter also asked for a timeline on when work at the labs would resume.
