Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave President Donald Trump a throwback COVID scare on Tuesday when he sneezed just a foot away from the president.
The Cabinet official was caught at another point using a cough to covertly insert what looked to be a tobacco pouch into his mouth.
While announcing a deal with Pfizer to reduce drug prices, Trump turned to his top health offices during an Oval Office press conference just in time for his Health and Human Services Secretary to sneeze into his elbow.
Trump was bragging about reducing the prices of insulin during his first administration, but took a beat to say: ‘God bless you, Bobby.’
‘I hope I didn’t catch COVID just there,’ he joked as laughter erupted from the officials lined up behind him.
Trump then turned to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to ask: ‘Don’t you have Paxlovid? He’s got Paxlovid. Give me a Paxlovid immediately.’
The president was referencing an antiviral medication that’s manufactured by Pfizer and used to treat COVID-19 in high-risk individuals.
The moment between Trump and RFK Jr. was reminiscent of a March 2020 press conference where Trump dramatically distanced himself from his first term health advisor Deborah Birx when she talked about a COVID scare.
Donald Trump had a mock COVID scare in a throwback moment at a press briefing when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sneezed just a foot away from the president
‘I hope I didn’t catch COVID just there,’ Trump joked as laughter erupted from the officials lined up behind him at the Oval Office press conference on Tuesday, September 30, 2025
‘Saturday, I had a little low-grade fever,’ Birx said during a press conference at the time, to which Trump interrupted with ‘uh-oh’ and took a few steps away.
‘I got a test late Saturday night, and I’m negative,’ she added.
‘Phew,’ the president breathed out. ‘Thank you for saying that.Thank you very much.’
While the U.S. has not been in a pandemic for years, the joke on Tuesday was a throw back to times when people were nervous to stand too close to each other or else catch COVID-19.
Years later, Trump is now working on a different mission at HHS: Make America Healthy Again.
And part of that is bringing down drug prices.
Pfizer’s CEO Bourla was at the White House on Tuesday along with Trump and his top health team to announce the launch of TrumpRx, which is a new website that will allow customers to buy prescription drugs directly instead of going through insurance.
The deal is part of Trump’s bigger plan to increase fairness and allow Americans to pay the same price for prescription drugs that people pay overseas.
At another point in the press conference, RFK Jr. was seen using a cough to covertly put something in his mouth – it appeared to be a nicotine pouch or piece of gum
During the press conference, RFK Jr. was positioned behind the president.
At one point when Trump was boasting that his plan to bring down prices might help in the 2026 midterm elections, Kennedy coughed.
But when he brought his hand to cover the cough, it appeared that he put a white pouch into his mouth.
It looked much like a tobacco or nicotine pouch.
People use Zyn – or other pouches – because it produces the nicotine ‘buzz’ in a more discreet form that doesn’t involve smoke like in cigarettes or spitting like with traditional tobacco chew.
