Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Saturday called President-elect Trump’s selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the department a “life or death” decision.
“This is a matter of life or death,” Sebelius said on MSNBC’s “The Saturday Show with Jonathan Capehart” in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “HHS affects people from birth to the grave and is intertwined with every state in the United States.” He said.
Kennedy, who has a history of anti-vaccination activism, said in a recent interview that he did not want to eliminate approved vaccines, but said health agencies had not done the necessary research on them.
“So this can be very dangerous. I think it’s completely disqualifying for someone who wants to lead one of the leading health institutions in this country and one of the leaders of the world to say unequivocally that there is no safe and effective vaccine,” Sebelius said.
“From the bully pulpit of HHS, that itself can kill people and harm children,” the former HHS secretary said.
“My grandson is too young to have had many vaccinations yet. It’s really scary to be exposed to unvaccinated people who have polio and measles… I think this is really scary and people are wondering how much this is going to happen.” “We need to understand how serious it is.”
After appointing Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services, President Trump said, “I will restore these institutions to their tradition of gold-standard scientific research and symbols of transparency, end the chronic disease epidemic, and make America great and healthy again.”
“For too long, the American people have been overwhelmed by the industrial food complex and pharmaceutical companies that have spread deception, misinformation and disinformation about public health,” Trump said on social media at the time.
Sebelius also recently told CNN that the idea of Kennedy leading HHS is “very scary” for Americans.
“I think it’s scary for the American public who relies on HHS for resources, information and public health from cradle to grave to have someone coming into a scientific institution who is skeptical of vaccines and could undo decades of public health work. , to oversee our food and medicine,” Sebelius told CNN’s John Berman.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.
