On Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump nominated vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, the nation’s top health agency.
President Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that day, “I am pleased to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”
Who is Robert F Kennedy Jr.?
Kennedy, 70, also known as RFK Jr, is an environmental lawyer and member of the Kennedy family in American politics.
He is the son of US Senator and Attorney General Robert F Kennedy and the nephew of John F Kennedy, US President from 1961 to 1963.
He is said to suffer from a neurological disorder that affects his voice, and US media have reported blaming the flu vaccine he received.
Kennedy initially ran for president as a Democrat in this year’s election. He ran in the election as an independent after failing to win the party nomination. In late August, he abandoned his presidential bid altogether to support Trump instead.
It is no surprise that Kennedy was nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services in the incoming Trump administration. Even before he was elected, Trump touted Kennedy during his campaign as “a man who cares more about people, health, and the environment than anyone else.”
The president-elect said at a rally in New York City on October 27 that he would let Kennedy get “enthusiastic” about health, food and medicine.
Kennedy came up with the slogan MAHA (Make America Healthy Again).
What does the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services do?
The department oversees all federal health issues in the United States.
It oversees the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the large Medicare and Medicaid programs that provide health insurance to people with limited incomes. Seniors over 65 years old, disabled people.
Where does Kennedy stand on health issues?
Kennedy became a controversial figure because of his positions on several issues. These include:
vaccine
Kennedy has long been skeptical of vaccines. He is chairman of Children’s Health Defense, a non-profit activist group that primarily disseminates anti-vaccine information.
He also tried to spread the conspiracy theory that vaccines cause autism in children. One example of this was in a 2005 interview with Joe Scarborough on American news channel MSNBC.
He repeated this theory in a 2023 episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. The notion that vaccines cause autism has been disproved by numerous scientific studies.
NBC News reported that Kennedy believes the flu shot caused him to develop a rare neurological disorder that affects his voice.
But he denied being “anti-vaccine” and told NBC News a day after Trump’s victory that he was “not going to take the vaccine away from anybody.”
fluoride in water
According to the CDC website, most communities in the United States add small amounts of fluoride to their tap water to prevent cavities and improve oral health. Fluoridation of water is a CDC recommendation.
On November 4, Kennedy rallied against water fluoridation in a social media post. Trump said the idea “sounds good” to him.
“Fluoride is an industrial waste that has been linked to arthritis, fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease,” Kennedy wrote.
A federal report released last August by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Toxicology Program concluded that higher fluoride levels were associated with lower IQ in children.
In late September of this year, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to further regulate water fluoridation because it could hinder the intellectual development of children.
He cautioned that it is currently unclear whether the amount of fluoride in water causes IQ loss in children.
Scientific experts say further research is needed to reach sound conclusions on this issue.
According to the CDC, no evidence has been found to suggest that fluoride may affect other health aspects, such as causing birth defects or cancer.
Food and Drug Administration
Kennedy has been most critical of the FDA, which oversees about $3 trillion in drug, food and tobacco products. In interviews and on social media, Kennedy has accused agency staff of being motivated by corporate interests and “doing the bidding” of Big Pharma and Big Food, according to Reuters.
In October of this year, Kennedy wrote on X Post: “If you work at the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”
The FDA’s war on public health may soon be over. These include aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunlight, exercise, nutraceuticals, and more.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (@RobertKennedyJr) October 25, 2024
covid-19
Kennedy opposed the federal lockdown imposed after the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. Restrictions that keep people confined to their homes and limit who they can meet in person have been put in place to stop the spread of the virus.
He also promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the virus, which has been discredited as an effective treatment.
Also in July 2023, the New York Post uploaded a video in which Kennedy appeared to claim that the virus was designed to target people based on race. No evidence has ever been presented to support this theory.
“COVID-19 is targeting white and black people. “The people with the strongest immunity are Ashkenazi Jews and the Chinese,” he can be heard saying in the video.
How are people reacting to Trump’s nomination of Kennedy?
Some Republicans with close ties to Trump welcomed the nomination, but many said they were concerned.
Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana, said on his He added that he was looking forward to it.
Cassidy earned his medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine and worked as a physician before entering politics.
.@RobertKennedyJr We have advocated for issues such as healthy food and the need for greater transparency in public health infrastructure. I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda.
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (@SenBillCassidy) November 14, 2024
Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson posted on “(Kennedy) is a brilliant and courageous truth-teller whose unwavering commitment to transparency can make America a healthier nation.”
When Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville was asked whether he would vote to confirm Kennedy’s appointment, Tuberville responded, “100 percent.” He wrote on his X account, “No one has done more to expose the corruption of big pharmaceutical companies and big foods. Make America Healthy Again!” The Alabama senator is also a member of the Senate Health Committee.
But Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins told the New York Times: “I think some of his comments are surprising. But I have never met him, never sat with him, never heard him speak at length. ”
Democrats raised some warnings about Kennedy’s nomination.
“It’s dangerous,” Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said on his X platform. You are not eligible. “It’s not serious.”
dangerous. You are not eligible. It’s not serious. https://t.co/jSwKkNrijC
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 14, 2024
Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, also cited the news about “It couldn’t be more dangerous,” she wrote.
It couldn’t be more dangerous. There’s no telling how far anti-vaxxers and fringe conspiracy theorists like RFK Jr. can set America behind in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research, and more. And the consequences are not theoretical, they are a matter of life and death. https://t.co/nE3Lw2oJRE
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) November 14, 2024
Jeremy Levin, CEO of biotech company Ovid Therapeutics and former chairman of biotech lobby group BIO, told Reuters: “There’s no reason to appoint someone to head the public health service who refuses vaccines. “This puts the stability of the entire country at risk,” he said. In October.
“RFK’s central plank, vaccine denialism, is probably as dangerous as you can imagine,” Levin said.
When this news was announced, stock prices of vaccine manufacturers such as American multinational Pfizer and mRNA vaccine manufacturer Moderna fell by up to 2%.
