President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will nominate vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his secretary. Health and Welfare Bureau.
If the Senate confirms Kennedy, the former independent presidential candidate will lead a vast department responsible for the large Medicare and Medicaid health plans, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
HHS spending and policy decisions have a significant impact on the U.S. health care system and related businesses.
Mr. Kennedy, 70, is the son of the late U.S. attorney general and Democratic senator from New York, Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated by a gunman in Los Angeles while running for president in 1968. He is the nephew of former President John Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.
President Trump said in October that if elected, he would give Kennedy a “health scare.”
“I am thrilled to announce the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services,” President Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site Thursday.
“For too long, the American people have been overwhelmed by the food complex and drug companies that have perpetrated deceit, misinformation, and disinformation about public health,” Trump wrote.
“The safety and health of all Americans is the most important role of any government, and HHS is committed to ensuring that all people are protected from harmful chemicals, contaminants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and food additives. It will play a major role in supporting this country’s overwhelming health crisis.”
In a post to X, President Kennedy thanked President Trump and wrote, “I am committed to advancing your vision to make America healthy again.”
“We have a generational opportunity to bring together the best talent in science, medicine, industry and government to end the epidemic of chronic disease,” President Kennedy said. “I look forward to working with HHS’s more than 80,000 employees to pursue our mission of lifting the agency from the cloud of corporate takeovers and making Americans once again the healthiest people on earth.” Masu.”
Kennedy told NBC News in a recent interview that Trump told him to “clean out corruption” in federal health agencies, return those agencies to science-based policies and “make America healthy again.” He said that he was hoping for “Entire divisions like the FDA’s nutrition division must be abolished,” Kennedy said.
Shares of the vaccine maker fell early Thursday after reports that President Trump would select Kennedy for the Health and Human Services post.
President Kennedy said last year that the coronavirus, which the CDC played a major role in combating, was designed to “attack white people and black people” and be less likely to harm “Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.” he suggested.
He has previously promoted the theory that autism is linked to childhood vaccines, but this link has been denied.
In August, after long abandoning his presidential candidacy, Mr. Kennedy endorsed Mr. Trump, infuriating many of his brothers.
Trump’s selection of Kennedy came a day after the Republican president-elect nominated Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to be attorney general.
Gates’ selection immediately sparked controversy. A key reason for this is the fact that the Justice Department, which he will lead as secretary, previously investigated Gates for sex trafficking of 17-year-old girls.
Gaetz resigned from Congress effective Thursday and was removed from the House Ethics Committee. However, many Republican senators are calling on the committee to release its investigation report into the former lawmaker.
kennedy last week reportedly He has indicated that 600 NIH employees will be fired and replaced.
his “Make America Healthy”” website is soliciting suggestions from the public for more than 4,000 positions for President Trump to appoint across the federal government.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) condemned President Kennedy in a statement.
“Mr. Kennedy’s outlandish views on basic scientific facts are disturbing and concern all parents who expect schools and other public spaces to be safe for their children,” Wyden said. It should be done,” he said.
“When Mr. Kennedy appears on the Treasury Committee, it will become very clear what the American people stand to lose under President Trump and Republicans in Congress.”
Another Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, said, “Donald Trump’s choice of a notorious anti-vaxxer to lead HHS could not be more dangerous. “This is a cause for deep concern for people.”
“There’s no telling how far fringe conspiracy theorists like RFK Jr. can set America back on public health, reproductive rights, research and innovation, and so many other fronts,” Murray said.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who will become Senate majority leader in January when Republicans take control of the chamber, said he had no reaction to Kennedy’s selection for the Health and Human Services job. said.
“Honestly, the whole nomination process has just started, so we’ll see what happens,” Thun told reporters.
“And these names, because they haven’t been formally submitted yet, will go through a vetting process. I would say to people, these will be resolved with advice and consent, and we will make sure there I said it would be taken care of.” ”
But other Republican senators, including Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Josh Hawley of Missouri, praised Kennedy’s choice.
“Bad day for big pharma,” Hawley tweeted.
andrea ducassevice president of health policy at the advocacy group Center for American Progress, said in a statement that President Trump’s choice of Kennedy is “nothing short of a disaster for the country.”
“His track record and years of open skepticism about medicine are a testament to the incredible public health advances we have made as a nation, from fighting infectious diseases through childhood vaccination programs to making our food supply safer through pasteurization.” “You could jeopardize the gains you’ve made by doing so,” Ducasse said.
“This selection is especially troubling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, where lifesaving vaccines have averted countless infections and deaths.”
