Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the infamous vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist who consultants warn will sabotage public well being efforts worldwide, has been confirmed as President Donald Trump’s decide to steer the Division of Well being and Human Providers.
The chamber confirmed Kennedy by a vote of 52-48 largely alongside get together traces.
Former longtime Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a childhood polio survivor, was the one member of his get together to vote in opposition to Trump’s decide.
Kennedy, an “unfathomable” nominee within the eyes of public well being consultants, has questioned the hyperlink between HIV and AIDS, tied gay and transgender identities to chemical publicity, pushed to remove fluoride from ingesting water, steered COVID-19 was genetically engineered to focus on sure races, claimed Black individuals might have different immune systems and steered anti-depressants are more addictive than opioids and are linked to school shootings.
However he’s maybe greatest recognized for the misinformation he’s unfold about vaccines. He’s stated they aren’t tested enough — one thing consultants dispute — and has steered vaccine trials that may be ethically doubtful, probably requiring kids to go with out safety in opposition to extreme illness. He’s additionally falsely linked vaccines to autism. When given the possibility to stroll that declare again throughout his affirmation listening to, he refused.
Justifying his vote, McConnell stated in an announcement that over his lifetime, he has “watched vaccines save tens of millions of lives from devastating illnesses throughout America and all over the world.”
“I cannot condone the re-litigation of confirmed cures, and neither will tens of millions of People who credit score their survival and high quality of life to scientific miracles,” he stated.
Now that Kennedy has been confirmed, he’ll have multiple avenues to curtail vaccine entry and uptake, together with by revising authorities vaccine advisories, abolishing the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, requiring extra post-market research on vaccines, sowing public mistrust in immunization and weakening authorized protections for vaccine makers.
Trump has steered he’ll let Kennedy do no matter he needs with American well being pointers.
“I’m going to let him go wild on well being. I’m going to let him go wild on the meals. I’m going to let him go wild on the medicines,” Trump stated at a marketing campaign rally in October.
In 2023, when Kennedy was nonetheless a candidate for president, he stated at an anti-vaccine convention that with him in cost, the nation would “give infectious disease [research] a break for about eight years.” He has as a substitute emphasised a give attention to dietary points and “continual illness.”
An early take a look at of Kennedy’s management could also be his response to the rising outbreak of bird flu, which largely presents in animals however has begun infecting people. Pandemic consultants say they’ve severe issues concerning the virus swapping genes with the seasonal flu, permitting it to unfold extra simply.
Regardless of his many deceptive statements previously, Kennedy spent a lot of his Senate affirmation hearings claiming that he’s supportive of vaccines. When confronted by Democrats with feedback he’s made within the latest years ― from saying that “there’s no vaccine that’s protected and efficient” in 2023, to saying he’d “pay something” to return in time and never vaccinate his kids in 2020 ― Kennedy repeatedly stated his remarks had been taken out of context.
The pushback in opposition to Kennedy from the general public well being neighborhood has been monumental. Final month, greater than 700 consultants within the subject signed an open letter pleading with senators to not verify him. Earlier than that, greater than 17,000 medical doctors signed the same letter.
Go Advert-Free — And Shield The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“This appointment is a slap within the face to each well being care skilled who has spent their lives working to guard sufferers from preventable sickness and demise,” the doctors’ letter reads. “People deserve higher.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who as soon as roomed with Kennedy in regulation faculty, was blunt with him in the course of the affirmation listening to.
“Frankly, you frighten individuals,” Whitehouse instructed him.
